Ranma 1-2 Alternative
by SWyvern
Summary: My original intent for this story gave way to something much more special. Sorry I didn't stray from canon much in the 1st three chapters, but I added a few elements leading up to the change of Akane & Ranma slowly learning to love each other in the first four so please be patient. What will this change do to people around the couple? Please read on to find out & I hope you enjoy!
1. I'm Ranma Saotome - Sorry About This

**Chapter 1**

**I'm Ranma Saotome... Sorry About This**

"Mommy, mommy! I wanna octopus puff!" Hiroshi tried to pull his mother towards the stand. His mother smiled and allowed Hiroshi to lead her to the snack stand.

"Good morning, Mr. Watanabe!" Mrs. Takahashi greeted the stand owner. "One set of octopus puffs please!" She smiled and handed Mr. Watanabe some yen. Walking from the stand, Mrs. Takahashi grabbed a toothpick with a puff on it and handed it to her son. Just as he was going to grab the treat, a tremendous pounding of the ground shook the puff out of Mrs. Takahashi's hand. Scared, Hiroshi hid behind his mother. Fearful herself, Mrs. Takahashi edged closer to the snack stand and looked towards the sound that had accompanied the mini – earthquake seconds earlier. The tall bushes on the side of the road began to rustle and suddenly, a red – haired, teenage girl jumped out facing the bushes with determination on her face.

"Come out and fight fair, you stupid, old man!" the girl yelled toward the bushes. Mrs. Takahashi began to try and ask the girl what was going on when another rumble shook the ground. The bushes shook again and Mrs. Takahashi lost all rational thought as a giant panda came lumbering out of the foliage. Fearing for her and her son's lives, Mrs. Takahashi dropped the box of octopus puffs, grabbed her son, and ran off before the panda could do anything to them.

"Oh, great job, pops! You went and scared off some poor lady and her son! You should know better than that!" the red – haired girl shouted at the large mammal in front of her. All she got in response was a grumble from the animal.

"Did she really just call that panda her 'dad' ?" Mr. Watanabe wondered to himself as he slowly slid behind his snack cart counter. Meanwhile, the red - haired girl jumped into the air and tried to land a kick on the panda. However, the kick was blocked and with a flip, the girl landed behind the animal.

"Well, I still say it sucks. Picking out my fiancée without even asking me!" The two continued to fight it out as a small crowd slowly gathered to watch the spectacle. "Did you ever consider my feelings in the whole matter, well did 'ya?!" The girl finally found an opening, grabbing the panda's arm as it tried to land a punch on her. Taking the panda's momentum and turning it against it, the red – haired girl threw the large animal into a stop sign. Panting for a moment, the girl scrunched her face into an angry look. "I'm going back to China now! So suck on that, old man!" she announced, snatching up her pack she had thrown down to fight. As she turned away, the panda got back up and looked perturbed as it grabbed the stop sign it had landed into out of the ground. Mr. Watanabe could only watch in disbelief as the panda walked back towards the girl. However, she never noticed, too engrossed in getting back to China and the panda whacked her in the back of the head with the sign, effectively knocking her out.

The panda replaced the sign back into the ground (in no spot in particular) and picked up the girl in his arms along with her pack. He started walking a few feet but stopped, realizing something was wrong. Looking behind him (without having to move his body), the panda realized that there were onlookers making many remarks about the whole ordeal.

"Are you kidding me? How does a panda become some poor girl's father? That just doesn't make sense genetically!"

"He scares me mom!"

"I can't believe he did that to that girl! I hope she's ok."

Growing angry, the panda growled at the crowd. Not wanting to become its next victim, the crowd of people turned away from the panda and girl. Pleased that they were no longer bothering them, the panda threw the girl onto its back and lumbered off into the rain that had begun falling. Mr. Watanabe came back up from his hiding spot and breathed a sigh of belief. Though he was absolutely concerned for the poor girl's condition, he knew one thing for sure: no one wanted to get involved with those two if this was how life was for them.

Meanwhile, at the household of a particular family, the master of said household trembled over the piece of mail he had received just a few days prior. "At last! Ranma is coming!" Soun Tendo spouted happily as he mulled over the postcard in his hands and wept for joy. "How I've waited for this day! And soon, very soon, Ranma will be here!" Soun flipped the postcard over and over again as he smiled at the coming of the day when his friend and son would be arriving at his household. "That's it then!" Soun placed the postcard on his kitchen table and stood up with pride on his face.

"Listen up! Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane!" Soun called out to his daughters as he began to search for them. Walking into the kitchen, he found his eldest, Kasumi, preparing dinner as usual. "Kasumi!" Soun greeted her as he held the door covering out of his face.

"Yes, what is it father?" Kasumi turned and asked with a gentle smile on her face. She had always been a wonderfully caring person but the tragedy in their family had brought even more of that out. Soun couldn't help but smile back.

"Please hurry over to the living room for a minute. I have news for you girls." Soun announced to her with joy.

"Of course!" Kasumi quickly finished up her stirring, replaced the lid on her pot, and after making sure everything was ok to be left alone, she made her way out of the kitchen. Meanwhile, Soun headed up to the rooms of his other two daughters. Knocking on the first door, Soun waited for a response.

"Come in!" he heard his middle daughter, Nabiki, respond. Opening the door, he found her reading a magazine on her bed. "What do you need, Daddy?"

"I have important news to share with you and your sisters. Please come with me to the living room." Soun answered. Placing a bookmark in her magazine, Nabiki set it down on her bed and followed her father as he went to knock on his last daughter's bedroom. "Akane!" Soun called to his daughter. However, he got no response. Soun knocked again and this time opened up the door without getting a response. It was, of course, pointless as his youngest daughter, Akane, was not in her room. "Where is that girl?" he wondered aloud. She was never around when needed, it seemed, and this was important that they all be present to hear.

"I think I might have an idea, Dad." Nabiki told him and proceeded to make her way downstairs.

"Thank you, Nabiki. Please send her towards the living room when you've found her." Soun told his daughter as they both descended and he went to the living room himself.

Nabiki Tendo made her way towards the family dojo outside and just as she had suspected, there was noise coming from inside. As she opened up the sliding door, she noticed as Akane was setting to a task in front of her. Nabiki decided to watch for a moment before grabbing Akane's attention. Set up in front of Akane were two cinder blocks set across two sets of smaller cinder blocks. Akane focused her energy into the chop and with a "Hiyah!" smashed the two cinder blocks laying on top with ease.

"That felt pretty good!" Akane announced to herself. Nabiki caught a piece of the debris with her foot as it flew onto the ground and tumbled towards her. She then whipped out her camera and snapped a shot of Akane wiping her brow. Hearing the click of a camera, Akane could no longer deny her older sister's presence. Looking up towards the clicking of Nabiki's camera, Akane finally acknowledged her older sister. "Oh... Nabiki."

"There you go again, Akane. This is exactly the type of thing that makes all the boys at school think you're so weird." Nabiki smiled on the inside knowing that she knew her younger sister well enough to lead her into the trap she was setting.

"You know Nabiki, not everyone thinks the world revolves around…" Akane paused momentarily before she yelled out, "…BOYS!" Feeling a little put off by her sister's comments, Akane turned her head away from Nabiki.

"Oh is that so? Well, then…" Nabiki stated as she began to leave the dojo, "I suppose that what dad's got to say wouldn't interest you." Despite the fact that Soun had never told the girls about what was going on this day, Nabiki had always been a good reader of people and knew there had to be something up. After all, why did he need to call all three girls in at the same time? Soun Tendo had always been something of a traditionalist and a martial artist to boot; there could only be one explanation in Nabiki's mind… some sort of suitor was coming soon and her dad meant to announce this to the girls. Nabiki sneaked a peak back towards the dojo as she walked back towards the house. Just as she had suspected, Akane was too curious not to follow suit. Nabiki smiled at her cunning and went to go put on a kimono to prepare for this "suitor."

Akane watched as Nabiki made her way towards her room and wondered what was going on. 'So she goes to get me but doesn't join the whole thing? What is going on?' Akane thought to herself. She decided to at least find out just what was going on before getting back to her workout. Finding both her father and eldest sister Kasumi sitting at the living room table, Akane sat down to ask her dad a question. "What's going on here Dad? Why did you call us here?" Akane asked with fervor.

"Hold up now, Akane. We need all three of you girls here before I can explain anything." Looking towards the dojo outside, Soun scratched his head with puzzlement. "Now where did Nabiki go? I just sent her after you; why didn't she come back with you?" Soun asked.

"Here I am, Daddy!" Nabiki answered as she sat down at the living room table, decked out in one of her formal kimonos. Kasumi smiled, Akane furrowed her brow, and Soun smirked a little.

'I never could keep anything from you, now could I, Nabiki?' Soun thought to himself, 'That's my daughter alright!' He smiled at Nabiki and she smiled back. This was definitely going to be a fun evening, she could tell.

"Ok, everyone's here. Now what's going on?" Akane demanded.

"Today, a very good friend of mine and his son will be coming to our home. His name is Ranma Saotome. If one you three girls were to marry him and carry on this training hall, then the Tendo family legacy would be secure." Soun explained. He figured this should be sufficient and looked at each his daughters to see their reaction. Kasumi seemed somewhat incredulous but still listened. Soun knew due to her upbringing with his late wife, Kirara, she would go as things planned. Nabiki, meanwhile, beamed and was more than happy about the situation. Soun smiled and turned to his youngest, Akane. What he found there was less then desired, anger spreading on her brow. She finally spoke up.

"Hey, wait a minute here, don't we get to have some say in who we're going to marry?!" Akane bursted out. Soun expected this but still knew what was was and Akane would have to deal.

"I understand your concern, but Akane dear, it's for the family legacy!" Soun explained with even more furvor in hopes Akane would accept her position. It didn't work and she crossed her arms in a huff.

"Maybe you should wait until you meet him." Nabiki countered, as she leaned her head towards her angered sister and lowered her eyelids with a grin. "You never know, he might be really cute!" As much as her life revolved around the goading and fooling of others, Nabiki was still a girl on the inside and had just as much interest in boys as any teenage girl her age. Meanwhile, Akane merely shook her head turned her gaze away from Soun. "Right, Daddy?"

Soun laughed at the young exuberance in Nabiki's words. After a bit of laughter, he picked up the postcard from his friend again. "He'll be here any minute. At least, according to this they should be here soon." He replaced the postcard on the table and stood up. All three girls looked at their father as he stood and although she was still upset about it, Akane listened. "We should greet them with great furvor and welcome. Ranma and his father having been on a training mission. Recently, they crossed into China. And I haven't seen either of them for so long, but I understand what is to train hard." Soun walked towards the view of their yard and looked into the sky. 'It has been very long indeed, Saotome, but I know your word is your word. You **will** be here!' Soun began to get teary eyed.

"Oooh, China! That must have been hard!" Nabiki swooned slightly. Still upset as ever at their predicament, Akane looked to the floor.

"So he hiked all the way to China; wow, big deal!" She wasn't interested in any of this and just wanted to get back to the dojo.

"You can't really 'hike' to China from Japan, Akane." Nabiki countered again. Akane gulped from embarrassment but luckily for her, no one caught it.

Kasumi finally spoke up from her incredulous silence. "Father, how old is this 'Ranma'? " she asked and tried to hide her concern. As she had gotten older and combined with the role she had taken amongst the Tendo family as surrogate mother, Kasumi's taste in men had become quite different from the traditional girl her age.

Before he could answer that, another question came, this time from Nabiki. "Is he cute?!" she espoused with girlish excitement. Clasping her hands together, Nabiki realized she was showing a side of herself no one at school should ever, EVER see.

"Younger men are so, young." Kasumi announced. It seemed both girls were in their own world as neither seemed to care that they were interrupting each other. Soun turned back around to face his children as they continued there musings.

"Well, what kind of guy is he?" Nabiki asked. It was the most important question of all since good looks never meant good personality; one student in particular proved that and Nabiki smiled devilishly at the thought of that incredibly stupid yet gullible boy.

Meanwhile, Soun began to laugh nervously again. He went on for quite a bit and the three sisters sat watching him ignore their questions. Something was up and even good natured, never bother a soul Kasumi knew it. Soun finally stopped laughing and looked at his daughters. "I don't know." Soun answered finally and turned back around yet again to face the koi pond.

"You don't know?!" Nabiki asked with a tinge of anger. Even though Akane was the usual candidate of the three of them to anger easily, this was incredibly wrong in Nabiki's mind. She started to look daggers into her father's back.

Soun turned his head back around to finish the conversation. "I've never met him." he announced and turned his back. How could he? Ranma was really only a small child of six when they left and to really "know" someone you had to watch them grow up, right? 'Right.' Soun agreed with himself silently.

'Oh please, I don't believe this!' Akane growled in her mind.

Yet again, the Tendo daughters just stared at their father, this time the incredulity of the matter had crept across all three faces. Of course, each was tinged with the thoughts and personality of each one. Kasumi was concerned with just how much she could really love a man even her father didn't know much about. But somewhere in her heart, she knew she could. Still, her concern was plastered in her looks. Nabiki was much more concerned with the insanity that sat before her; how could her father want to engage them to someone that he never knew? Of course, her father wasn't always the greatest of planners and this was par for the course but still... if she was going to marry someone, shouldn't her father have done something in the way of research? As the musings of the older Tendo daughters continued, Akane sat fuming. Still looking to the floor, she couldn't help but think one solitary thought.

'Why does my world always have to revolve around boys?' Akane ground her fists into her legs stared at those now. 'It's bad enough that at school I...'

She never finished the thought however; as a koi leapt from their pond, a sudden stir of noise came from the front gate of the Tendo dojo. Soun turned his eyes towards the entrance hallway and began to find even more excitement in his being than before.

"Let go of me you old fool!" they all heard from the front entry. "I don't want any part of this, now put me DOWN!" Finally, the front door opened and the Tendo family stared toward the hallway together.

"Sounds like we have visitors." Kasumi announced the obvious as she arose from her pillow.

Nabiki had been mulling the whole thing over in the few seconds since their discussion of Ranma. Even though she wasn't thrilled with her father's capabilities at planning to the last detail, she'd decided to go with it anyway. After all, he might be cute!

"Ooo!" she gushed. "It must be Ranma!" Standing up, Nabiki headed towards the front door. Soun broke from his stance and followed after Nabiki.

"Saotome! My friend!" he called out. "We've been waiting!" As her father turned the corner, Kasumi went to join them. Akane figured she might as well get the whole thing over with and stood up to follow her sister.

"I do hope that he's older than me." Kasumi hoped aloud as they walked towards the corner of the hall.

That corner was quickly occupied as Soun and Nabiki were running back towards the living room. Nabiki whimpered a cry of slight fear and Soun's face espoused confusion mixed with fear. Kasumi was about to ask what was going on but she didn't need to. Behind her father and sister turning the corner was the answer to their sudden change in mood. A panda holding somebody over his shoulders was walking with no particular malice behind them. None the less, Akane and Kasumi joined their father and sister in the scare. Why was a panda with a person on his shoulder in their household? They all watched as the panda approached them.

"Come on, pop! You're scaring 'em spitless!" the person on the panda's shoulder shouted, punching their fists into the panda with no avail. The Tendos could only find the courage to watch as the panda continued its vigil and stand before them all. Soun stared wide eyed at the spectacle before him. The incredulity had returned to Nabiki's face and she was wondering what sort of wackiness had befallen their home. Akane had recovered somewhat and knowing that this wasn't what her father had talked about, had regained some of her composure. At least it wasn't some stupid fiance!

Kasumi spoke of the matter first. "So father," she began, "this is your friend?" If it weren't for the fact that a giant panda stood before them, Nabiki would have been proud of the tinge of sarcasm in her older sister's voice. Meanwhile, Soun merely shook his head.

"Uh – uh, uh – uh, uh – uh, uh - uh!" he spouted, still scared at the strange event at hand.

"Oh, so this panda just decided to drop in? Is that it, huh?" Nabiki asked skeptically. Once again, Soun only shook his head fervently.

"Uh – uh, uh – uh, uh – uh!" he spouted again. The panda took another step towards the family and all but one of them took a step back. Akane, meanwhile, was just staring with fascination. It was not, by far, the strangest thing in her life right now.

The panda took the person off of his shoulders and placed them in front, as if for the Tendo's inspection. Soun regained some of his own composure and took a look at the person before him; they had bright, red hair and currently they looked embarrassed by the whole ordeal. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Soun. "You wouldn't be..." Soun trailed off. As he began to study this person, something seemed wrong.

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this." their guest announced and continued to stare beside themselves embarrassed.

"At last, you're here!" Soun excitedly espoused. However, Ranma's speech seemed much more of a surprise to Nabiki than the panda in the room. This person claimed to be the Ranma Saotome their father had talked about but something seemed off, especially when Ranma had just spoken. Staring at Ranma, Nabiki began to realize what exactly was wrong. Before their father could bury Ranma in a hug as he had been about to, Nabiki grabbed at Ranma's chest and began squeezing. At this, Ranma seemed to get both embarrassed yet annoyed. Having confirmed her suspicions, Nabiki stared back at her father who had begun to realize the same.

"Ranma's not a boy, he's a GIRL!" Nabiki shouted with disdain. She had thought the red head looked cute as she had been hoping but knowing it was due to her femininity, Nabiki was let down.

"A... a... girl?!" Soun managed. This was not what he was expecting; even though he wasn't the smartest of men, he could definitely tell the difference between sexes and Ranma was definitely a girl. What was going on here? He knew his friend Saotome had had a son. What was going on? It became all too much for Soun and soon, he found himself falling.

"Aaaaaaaauguuuuoyya!" he shouted as he fainted and fell to the ground. The last image he saw was that of the red head claiming to be his friend's "son" and heard Kasumi shouting concernedly for the man.

"Father!"

* * *

End Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	2. Surprise Strangers

**Chapter 2**

**Surprise Strangers**

A few minutes later, as he lay unconscious, a lone sakura petal floated into the Tendo living room. It wafted on the breeze and finally settled onto Soun Tendo's cheek. As if it were the cause, Soun opened his eyes and awoke. He stared at the ceiling for another minute as he quietly started to regain remembrance of the events that had just transpired. Had a panda really just walked in and handed them Ranma Saotome, the girl, as his daughter's suitor?

Kasumi noticed that her father had awoken but said nothing so as to let him gain some strength. "Oh poor father," she commented, "He must be so disappointed. I know I would be if my expectations of family ties were switched on me."

Nabiki could not help but feel incredulous. She had been lied to and that was HER job. "He's disappointed?! He's not the only one!" she shouted. Nabiki turned to stare at their guest. Ranma sat quietly with her hands in her lap and a sheepish look on her face. Something about her made Akane begin to feel sorry. Nabiki, meanwhile, continued on her rant. "I mean, look at her! Some fiance!"

Akane couldn't handle it anymore. "Stop it, you two! He... she is our guest!" Akane argued and defended their house guest. Ranma finally took her eyes off of her hands and looked at Akane. Akane smiled and Ranma's spirits lifted a little. However, she still couldn't shake the feeling of dread. Some time or another, the truth would be revealed. And then, just watch the sparks fly!

Kasumi interrupted Ranma's musings. "Oh look everyone, father is awake!" Hoping that they could all allow father to explain in due time, Kasumi smiled and tried to draw their attention to his health. "Are you ok now, father?" she asked.

Nabiki would have none of that, too engrossed in her own shattered world to respect someone else's well – being. "This is all you fault, Daddy!" she accused. Soun, still trying to gather his own thoughts, only lay there and listened to his middle daughter's complaints. "Don't you know the difference between a boy and a girl?" Nabiki asked with so much incredulity, Akane thought that her sister was about to turn into that one American guy famous for skepticism. 'Bill Mayor, I think it was?' she thought to herself.

Soun finally joined the conversation. "I had assumed that my friend Genma's son was a boy! Why else would he have allowed such an agreement to marriage? If Ranma were a girl, would he have not tried to find a male suitor as I have today for you three?" Soun's head still swirled with questions and found that he had a headache. Once again, however, Nabiki did not care of any of his ailments at the moment.

"Excuse me!" she countered, grabbing one of Ranma's breasts yet again. Akane watched that as Nabiki squeezed Ranma's chest again, Ranma looked embarrassed. Though she couldn't see it and assumed the embarrassment was of her current predicament, Ranma also showed signs of resentment for that very predicament. Akane felt her anger and compassion both rising at the same time. Nabiki continued on. "Does THIS look like a boy to you, huh Daddy?" The squeezing became too much for Ranma and she finally spoke up.

"Please, I wish you'd stop that!" she spoke with shame. Again, Akane's heart went out to Ranma and she decided to step in to stop the insensitivity towards the poor girl's life. After all, Akane knew she'd never want to be engaged to another girl. 'Yet boys are just stupid.' she thought. Shaking off these things, she went to Ranma's defense.

"You heard her what she said, Nabiki. Stop showing off her chest to father already!" Akane defended. Once again, Ranma stared at Akane. Akane smiled again and Ranma couldn't help but be charmed by that smile. She smiled back and Akane knew her plan had worked. Nabiki dropped her hand from Ranma's chest and watched the two youngest people in the room. They seemed to be sharing something and Nabiki rolled her eyes.

'This is why you get all those nicknames at school, Akane!' Nabiki thought with wonder.

"A guest is a guest. Just leave the situation alone, alright?" Akane asked of Nabiki. Nabiki nodded and turned back to her father.

"Hey," Akane beamed, placing a hand on Ranma's shoulder, "you wanna go practice?"

"Huh?" Ranma asked as she stared up at Akane, who had lifted herself onto one knee. 'That smile is so cute.' she thought.

"Well, Dad said that you and your father were on a training mission in China. I can only assume that that combined with the fact that Daddy wanted to 'secure the Tendo family legacy' with you as our 'fiance' means that you practice martial arts!" Akane explained. Ranma nodded, uncertain with both herself and Akane. "I see you're shy. That's ok. Hi, I'm Akane. You wanna be friends?"

Ranma stared at Akane's smiled and considered the invitation. Being confronted with the idea of being betrothed without her consent had angered Ranma. It seemed now that since the whole thing was off, Akane wanted to still attach herself to Ranma's life. Though unsure how things would go, Ranma decided that it was better to have a friend than a fiance right now. Smiling, she nodded to Akane. "Yeah." she agreed.

Akane was so happy; today's whole fiasco hadn't ended like she had imagined it going. And now she had a friend to boot! They stood up and walked towards the dojo itself. Meanwhile, Nabiki just stared at her father, turning her disillusionment back towards the Tendo elder. "How, Daddy? How could you have mistaken a girl for a boy? You said that you've known Genma for very long. Didn't you ever see his child?" she asked.

Soun strained for the memories. "I did but again, Ranma was so young. On top of that, we were dealing with your mother's ailment around the time they left for China that I cannot for the life of me remember any images of Ranma as either sex. Besides, you never really know a person until you watch them grow up, right?"

"Oh please, just because you never knew Ranma all her life doesn't mean you couldn't have ever been told that she was born with..." she had been about to spout out female only body parts but the look on Kasumi's face told her to stop. "...with an extra X chromosome!" Nabiki folded her arms and with a huff, she turned away from her father's face. Closing her eyes, Nabiki was just about done with the insanity. Kasumi, ever the wisest though only nineteen, spoke up.

"Father, you said that your friend Genma would be coming with Ranma. Why was it that she was delivered to us by a panda?" Nabiki turned back to the conversation; that was true, why had Ranma been with the panda. Nabiki looked back at the panda in question and found that it had lumbered off.

"Of course, we try to find out about our culprit and he's gone!" Nabiki espoused, obviously annoyed. "I'll go find him." She rose and went towards the stairs, hoping that a panda that brought care packages of human beings would be the last of their troubles tonight.

"Father, what about Mr. Saotome?" Kasumi asked again.

"I.. I don't know." Soun answered, unsure of anything in the world anymore. Up could be down if Ranma was a girl.

"Did Mr. Saotome ever have a pet panda?" Kasumi suggested.

"No." Soun answered. "I have no clue in the matter." He finally sat up and turned to Kasumi. "Would you please bring me some aspirin, Kasumi dear? I need to recover from this... debacle."

"Of course, father!" Kasumi beamed and went to fetch some medicine and a glass of water for her father.

Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane approached the Tendo family dojo. With her hands behind her head, Ranma studied the building. It was definitely an old building and although it had been taken proper care of, it still showed its age. This was a family treasure, she supposed. Akane opened the sliding doors to reveal the large training stage inside. 'Definitely a great place to spar.' Ranma thought excitedly. Akane broke Ranma out of her musings.

"You studied kenpō, right?"Akane asked of her new friend.

Ranma studied Akane's demeanor and decided to hide a few things. "A little." she responded.

"Well," Akane smiled, "Why don't we have a little match then! I did ask earlier if you wanted to practice."

"Huh?" Ranma was confused at Akane's moods. They seemed to switch very quickly.

"Come on, just for fun!" Akane encouraged as she took a stance of readiness. Ranma merely placed her hands behind her back and faced Akane, unsure of what to make of the situation. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you!" Akane promised as Ranma could only stare, her mouth shrunk down to but a speck. With that, Akane furrowed her brow as if she was angry (which after noticing Akane's mood switching, surprised Ranma none) and rose her fists to begin the sparring match. Ranma decided to accept the match and nodded her head. However, to Akane's confusion, Ranma continued to hold her hands behind her back. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'Ranma accepted the match, I guess she's ready.'

Akane went to throw the first punch; she was about to connect but Ranma merely jumped into the air and Akane's fist hit the air that occupied Ranma's former position. As Ranma landed, Akane furrowed her brow further and went to make a few more attempts at connecting a hit. However, both her next kick and second punch missed as Ranma seemed to effortlessly dodge to the side as her attempts missed. Akane tried a sweeping kick to see if Ranma would finally get into it, but the girl merely bent over backward and returned to her stance as Akane's foot returned to the floor. The slight smile on Ranma's complexion played on Akane's mood.

"What's wrong? Attack me!" Akane declared. This went on for a while as every one of Akane's blows would miss due to Ranma merely dodging without a stance or attack of her own. Screaming her "hiyahs" as she made her attempts, Akane finally broke for a second to regain her resolve in the match. She breathed heavily and began to wonder about her opponent. 'Why am I missing her?' she wondered to herself, 'Is she reading my moves?' Akane pondered this for a second but decided that couldn't be; training mission or not, Ranma did not seem to be that skilled. After all, Ranma hadn't taken a stance herself. Akane started breathing regularly and prepared herself for a more formidable attack. "Ok, this time for real!" she announced with furvor. Drawing her foot back further on the floor, Akane paused and drew strength for this final blow. With a yell of attack, Akane ran forward to make her hit. She blinked as the next few events transpired: Akane's fist went straight through the dojo wall and Ranma made a graceful yet purposeful leap above Akane's fist. Dumbfounded, Akane looked up as Ranma used the dojo wall as a springboard and flipped over Akane's head. Akane looked back to her fist and suddenly felt a finger boink her softly in the back of her head. Taking her fist out of the wall, Akane turned around and saw Ranma with her finger slightly extended from where she'd previously touched Akane. Smiling, Ranma began to giggle. At first, Akane could only stare as she was still in slight shock and awe at Ranma's skill. Then, slowly but surely, Akane joined the red head in giggling. The giggling turned to full blown laughter and Akane couldn't help but laugh in spite of herself. The laughter stopped and Akane beamed at her new friend.

"You're pretty good!" Akane complimented Ranma. Ranma merely beamed, as if she already knew the fact and was in no need of compliment. Akane began walking back towards the dojo entrance. Stretching her arms out to relieve some of the pressure from the match, Akane turned back towards Ranma. "I'm just glad that you're a girl!" she announced. Ranma winced and turned towards Akane, unsure of what to say.

"Wh.. what?" was all she got out. Ranma had thought she was in the clear from her dad's scheme but something new was developing. What had that meant?

"It's just, well..." Akane trailed off. Somehow something had seemed off in Ranma's reaction to the statement. She brushed it off and continued. "I'm just really glad you're not a boy." She turned back around and made for the house.

Ranma could only stand there stunned. She thought she'd found a new friend, something she hadn't really had during China. Now, it seemed inevitable that this friendship was doomed. She watched as Akane went back inside and Ranma slumped to the ground, legs to either side of her. "I just want a normal life for once." she breathed with an air of fear. No one heard her and she stared up towards the few stars appearing in the evening sky.

Akane walked back up to her room and prepared for a good bath. The match between her and Ranma, though very one sided, had definitely given Akane a workout. She smiled as she looked in her vanity mirror. "I am really glad you're not a boy, Ranma." Akane testified. Of course, no one heard her admission of the truth but her dolls. "If you were a boy, I... I just..." she trailed off. Akane placed her head in her hand and took a look at the single rose in a vase on her vanity. It reminded her further of the reason she hated boys right now. "Stupid senpai!" she declared aloud and went to throw the rose out the window. She stopped, however, and sighed. "I can't punish you, can I? You're just inanimate." Sighing again, Akane replaced the rose in its vase and stared out the window at the evening sky. "I might finally get to have a normal life for once." Akane mused.

Meanwhile, Nabiki, who had still found no trace of the "panda express" finally decided to give up. After all, there were more pressing matters. Ranma was a girl! How could Daddy have been so blind? She held a hand to her forehead and breathed a calming sigh. 'This is par for the course. Daddy's never been the brightest, has he?' Nabiki reminded herself. She decided to take her mind off of the subject and go take a bath. When she reached the changing room with her things, she noticed that someone had been in there. "Huh?" she pondered aloud. "Did Ranma and Akane finish their match already? And what's with the short black and white hairs on the ground?" Shrugging after a bit of pondering, Nabiki pushed the issue aside and undressed.

After her bath, Nabiki made her way to find out what was for dinner from Kasumi. She passed the living room and saw her father sitting on a pillow staring intently forward. Had her mind still been on the Ranma fiasco, she would never have noticed the second man sitting staring just as intently at her father. Doing a double take, Nabiki peaked back around the corridor entrance to the living room to take a look at the second man. He was wearing a gi just like her father (except it was a lighter shade of gray) and a bandana around his bald head. Both her father and this new man just sat there, tears streaming from their eyes as if they hadn't seen each other in years. Nabiki felt unjustified in breaking the air of the room and went to ask Kasumi about it. After she left, Soun grimaced with love and sorrow.

"So that's it, then?" he asked this new guest.

"Mmm." the man grunted in agreement.

Soun turned to stare at the setting sun. He could only weep further as he watched the beautiful horizon. "The path of a true martial artist is fraught with perils." Soun stated with sorrow. The new man merely stared on at Soun.

Kasumi, meanwhile, lead Ranma upstairs to find a suitable place for her to stay. Opening the doors to one in particular, she addressed their guest. During their trek upstairs and her prior trip from the dojo, Ranma had tried her best to stay unemotional but knew that Akane's comment was still biting at her conscience. Luckily for her, Kasumi interrupted her thoughts.

"Ranma, you can use this room." Ranma bowed and Kasumi smiled, unaware that Ranma had placed her arms to her side. Placing her pack down, Ranma began to inspect her new dwelling quarters. Kasumi offered a folded towel in her hands to Ranma. "Would you like to freshen up and have a bath now?" Kasumi offered with a smile. Ranma's danger sense went off and she gulped guiltily.

"Uhhh, no thanks!" she placed a hand up to politely refuse. The goofy smile on her face, however, betrayed her attempt.

"Here," Kasumi placed the towel in Ranma's hands, "you've been exercising haven't you?"

"Uh, yes..." Ranma admitted, knowing she wasn't going to get away from the act of hot water interaction. Kasumi merely beamed and set back towards the kitchen. Considering they had two new guests (Ranma and the new man in the living room), she would have to make more than she had previously thought.

'No matter, it's always a delight to have company!' Kasumi thought cheerfully.

Nabiki, meanwhile, had somehow timed her approach towards the kitchen at the right time. Kasumi had just continued her cooking only a few minutes before hand. Nabiki brushed aside the small door top curtains to talk to her sister. "Kasumi, who is that strange man sitting in our living room. Daddy seems to know him all too well, you know?" Nabiki asked and her mind abuzz with the day's events, began to fidget slightly.

Kasumi found what she'd been looking for in the fridge and closed its door. She looked towards her sister and replied kindly. "Who knows?"

Surprised that Kasumi knew nothing, Nabiki was taken aback slightly. "Wait, what?" Kasumi always knew about house guests, she thought. If Kasumi didn't know, what was going on?

Kasumi continued her gentle visage. "Go tell Akane she can go take her bath now." she told Nabiki. She was unsure if Ranma truly was going to take a bath so she didn't find it a problem to allow Akane to take one now as well.

Nabiki, her head still swirling with wonderment at her older sister's ability to just take things in stride, decided not to push the matter. After all, things would resolve themselves... they always did around Daddy. "Ok!" she accepted and went to tell Akane.

Ranma, nude as the day she was born, filled a bucket to deal briefly with her hair. Satisfied with the amount, she turned the faucet off and inhaled sharply as she dumped the water on her head. "Uhhuhhuhh!" she stuttered in shock. "That's cold!" Sitting there on the small bench for washing her hair, she came to and decided to address her problem. Akane and the others were definitely going to find out sooner or later and Ranma supposed sooner was best. She opened the door between the changing room and the bathroom itself to start the warm water for her bath.

Meanwhile, Akane entered the changing room right afterwards to begin her own bath. Ranma heard nothing and continued to fill the tub. Slowly taking off her gi, Akane turned her head to take the other shoulder off when she noticed some other clothes in the laundry basket. Taking a closer look, she realized they were Ranma's clothes. 'See Ranma, I'm really glad you're a girl otherwise this would be embarrassing.' Akane thought with a smile. "I guess we can both take our baths!" she announced. However, the resident on the other side of the sliding door had once again not heard Akane.

Popping back up from under the water, Ranma breathed out slightly to catch his breath. Laying his head back against the tub side, he scratched his head from consistent thought on his problem. 'Hmmm,' he thought intently, 'what to do?' This particular question of his predicament had never come up before and he was at a loss. Akane definitely wasn't expecting this, let alone the rest of the family. 'They're bound to find out sooner or later.' he told himself again. Closing his eyes and understanding his only option, he came to a resolution. 'Well, may as well just go out like I am!' he decided. Ranma stood up prostrate and took a step to get out of the tub. Just then, the sliding door opened and startled Ranma slightly. Turning, he found a fully nude Akane there with a towel just barely covering her nether regions.

The two of them stood there for what seemed ages, neither of them saying or doing anything. Ranma was taken aback by both the beauty of Akane's figure and the shame he was beginning to feel at having just peeped at Akane. Plus, he was sure that after having stated the thing about being glad he wasn't a guy, Akane must feel betrayed and embarrassed to see him in the nude as well.

However, she still did nothing and all he could do was continue to stare at her face. Finally, Akane moved, closing the sliding door behind her and leaving Ranma alone in the bathroom. Ranma stared down at the floor and felt ashamed for the situation. 'At least she's taking it it stride that a stranger in the bathroom was staring at her nude.' he thought.

Meanwhile, Akane slowly redressed herself and exited the changing room. Just as she closed the door, she sighed deeply...

...AND BEGAN TO SCREAM AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS!

* * *

End Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	3. Surprise In The Bathroom

**Chapter 3**

**Surprise In The Bathroom**

The scream that emitted from the Tendo household could be heard across the block and Mr. Tanaka wondered what strange goings on were happening to the Tendos now. His daughter had told him about the insanity that was school many times before so he knew straight away that this was probably normal for them. None the less, Mr. Tanaka wondered just what exactly was going on that was causing Akane to scream so loudly that she could be heard by everyone.

Meanwhile, Akane continued to scream and ran across the house, trying to decide what to do. As the new man and Soun clinked glasses of sake together, they were interrupted by Akane's screaming. Though used to it, Soun still wondered what was making his youngest so scared. He was about to get up and go find out when Akane ran, still screaming her loudest, right past the living room entrance. Both Soun and the new man in the room (whom Akane never even took second glance at) watched as she ran back into the living room and went to grab the living room table as a weapon against the surprise in the bathroom. Quickly grabbing their snacks and drinks, both men wondered what was going on.

Akane finally finished screaming and came to herself again. "I'LL DROWN HIM IN THE BATHTUB!" she screamed and began to take heavy breaths from her tirade of ear splitting noise. Kasumi and Nabiki came from the kitchen and stared at their sister.

"Akane, what is it?" Kasumi asked apprehensively. Although it took little to anger her little sister, Akane was still family and she was concerned. "What's the matter? And what are you doing with that?" Nabiki, too, wondered just what had made Akane so feverishly agitated to cause her to grab a table as a weapon.

"There's a pervert in the bathroom!" Akane stated defiantly, as if her sisters should have already known.

Nabiki scoffed. "Well gee, Akane, why didn't you just clobber him then?" If she could take care of the idiots at school, she could definitely take on this one man.

"Because I got scared!" Akane declared, still angry at anyone trying to change her position. "Is that alright?" Nabiki merely scoffed again.

A thought suddenly occurred to Kasumi. "Oh, I do hope Ranma's alright. I thought she was in there taking a bath right now." This statement clicked something off in both Nabiki and Akane's brains. They were only allowed a few moments to ponder the statement, however, as someone else joined their throng.

"Excuse me." a masculine voice interjected from the living room entrance. The entirety of the room faced the voice but only the women in the room seemed to be confused by its source.

"Who is that?" Kasumi asked with curiosity. The three women inspected this third apparition from the day and found him to be strangely familiar (especially Akane). This surprise from the bathroom was wearing Ranma's get up from earlier but was definitively male. He wore his strikingly black hair in a pony tail, just as Ranma had, and despite the masculine stance you could still see the same demeanor in this teenage boy as you could in Ranma. Yet another click went off in Nabiki's brain and although she was sure of the answer, she decided to ask a question for the benefit of the rest of the room.

"Who are you?" she asked incredulously so as to disguise her knowledge.

The young man lowered his gaze slightly. "I'm, uh..." he paused, still wavering on whether to talk about the whole thing. "I'm... Ranma Saotome." He allowed the idea to sink in for a bit. No one changed their demeanor and he continued. "Sorry about this." He closed his eyes and lowered his head in apology. Still the Tendo women just stared at Ranma. Was this really the same red head from before? Akane could no longer feel the need to clobber the "pervert" in the bathroom, even though he was standing right before her. She blushed slightly, embarrassed from her actions and the living room table sunk onto her head.

A few minutes later, they all sat around that table with the two strangers kneeling before the family as they watched the men. Silence had befallen the room since Akane's outburst and no one had felt right about saying anything until Soun finally broke the tension.

"I can explain everything!" he stated sternly. That sternness was quickly broken by the smile that crossed his lips. Raising a hand to gesture towards the older man in the gi, Soun introduced the two. "This is my dear, old friend!" he announced.

The man in question bowed to the Tendo women. "Genma Saotome." he greeted them. Then gesturing towards the "pervert", he continued. "And this is my son..."

"Ranma." Ranma greeted as well but with an air of both embarrassment and uncertainty. He tilted his head down and looked at Akane with fear and shame. She was calm enough to hear out the story but still fuming from the bathroom incident. He had looked straight at her and she felt violated.

Nabiki, meanwhile, was contemplating the idea that had been set before them. Ranma was claiming to be, well, Ranma. But wasn't Ranma a girl? "This gets more interesting by the minute!" she marked.

"Are you really her?" Kasumi asked the question for Nabiki. "The same girl who we saw before?"

"I am." Ranma admitted. Something about his emotions told Nabiki that there was more to this. After all, she'd read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde before. But Ranma seemed liked Ranma no matter what the sex. The family sat there again in silence for awhile. Soun was not going to tell his friend's story for him. Genma was completely capable of the matter and waited patiently for his friend to start the incredible tail he'd heard only moments ago.

After a few minutes, Genma began up again. "It's such a long story, I don't know where to begin." he stated. Nabiki had a hard time believing that but her curiosity won out and she said nothing. "Well then," he decided, standing up, "let's start with this!" With that, Genma grabbed his son and proceeded to throw Ranma towards the koi pond. Ranma, completely aghast at his situation, was ripped violently from his embarrassment with Akane. As he landed in the pond, the family stood up to see just what insanity this was. Very quickly, the same red headed girl from before peered her head from the pond, shaking as much water off her face so she could see.

"What'd 'ya do that for?!" she screamed at Genma.

"Oh my!" Nabiki stated. It was too obvious now that indeed, Ranma was the same girl from before. But that begged even more questions! For starters, what sex was Ranma really?

"Ranma's a... girl now." Kasumi observed. Genma, meanwhile, had walked towards his "son" and lifted a fist. Crying bitter tears, he began a rant.

"I am so ashamed. I cannot bare to see my son like this!" Ranma began fuming just like Akane had been moments ago before the sudden sex change had startled her out of her anger. "Ranma Saotome!" Genma continued. "You break your father's heart!" Due to his cry, Genma had not seen nor heard that Ranma had leapt out of the pond behind him. With a fierce kick, Ranma launched her father straight into the pond himself. Moments later, a panda that looked very much (in fact, exactly like) the same panda from before emerged from the koi pond. The women grimaced and Nabiki realized just why there were strange hairs in the bathroom and also why Mr. Saotome had shown up in the living room without notice.

"Who are you to talk?" Ranma bellowed. "My old man's a panda!" The two changed individuals began to fight and Soun walked out next to his daughters to watch.

"Father, you certainly have some unusual friends." Kasumi quipped. Nabiki couldn't help but snicker inwardly.

'And you try to put on the air of someone who has no time to make fun of others.' Nabiki thought to herself.

"They didn't used to be like this." Soun explained. "It was training in China that did this to them!" He narrowed his eyes and almost looked like he was about to cry despite his serious look. "Something terrible happened during a dangerous training exercise!" Akane could not help but wonder if she weren't dreaming. She knew her life hadn't been exactly normal but this took the cake. Staring at the panda and girl fighting, something began to tweak inside Akane's heart.

"Maybe we should give them a few moments to come back to themselves?" Soun suggested. The three Tendo girls nodded their heads and watched as their "guests" continued their row.

Five minutes later, Ranma the male and Genma the man knelt before the Tendo family in the living room once again. Though still mad about the bathroom incident, Akane had let some of the anger out of her face and Ranma noticed. He was still embarrassed, however, and said nothing. "Please, Genma. Continue your tragic story."

"Ah yes, it all started one fateful month ago!" Genma expounded. "Ranma and I were voyaging across the ocean to China."

"That had to be expensive." Nabiki commented. She had always been a business woman at heart and knew that boat tickets to anywhere were insane in Japan.

Genma shook his head. "We did not take much for our trip. Considering where we were going we did not take any money, Japanese or otherwise. Our swim was a training exercise in itself." While Akane gulped at the though of swimming across the ocean to China (let alone the idea of swimming at all), Nabiki and Kasumi gasped. These men were definitely talented!

Genma once again continued his story. "We journeyed for many days and many nights. During our time there, we came upon something both incredible and dangerous. It was in China's Mount Quanjing region in the Bayankala range, Qinghai province, that we finally found what we were looking for."

* * *

Genma and his father continued their trek through the mountains. Their guide had stopped ahead of them. Genma was especially excited to get here. He had heard about this training ground and was eager to test the boy's abilities just like he'd been doing for the past ten years. His wife would be proud and he knew that if Nodoka were to see them now, that kitana of hers would be retired forever. They reached the same spot the guide was standing at and stopped to rest for a bit.

As they did, the guide began to speak in broken Japanese. "Here sirs, we come to famous training grounds of cursed springs! Jusenkyou!" He announced. Ranma lifted his head and stared at the supposedly cursed training grounds. Though he was never much a believer in curses or things of that matter, he'd still been slightly spooked by his father's stories. Ranma had been expecting a deep fog or uneasy creepiness to surround the place. Instead, it was just a bunch of bamboo poles sticking out of the millions of pools around the area. Ranma smiled a grin filled with both relief and condescension.

Genma saw that his son seemed ready so he began to take off his pack. "Are you prepared Ranma?" he asked.

"Ah man, this place ain't near as bad as I thought it'd be!" Ranma announced. Genma smiled; he knew how to conjure up emotion is his child and had definitely spent time making sure Ranma was a brave man. But despite the bravado he'd put up in order train Ranma, Genma was proud of his son.

The guide looked at his tourists strangely when they spoke about Jusenkyou. There was no way they'd use the grounds however. After all, the elder of the two had read the brochure, right? "Oh, sirs. You are very strange ones, no?" the guide commented. The two foreigners merely grunted. The guide continued his memorized speech. "This place is... uh... very dangerous! Nobody use it now because more than **one – hundred** spring here and each one have own tragedy happen there!" The guide prided himself on selling the scary story of the tragedies that had occurred at Jusenkyou and although he meant no harm, he'd gotten very used to many tourists wanting to leave after the air he created with his narrations of Jusenkyou.

However, Genma and Ranma had a very different reaction... VERY DIFFERENT! The guide watched in horror as Genma leapt from the ground onto one of the poles. "Ranma!" he bellowed. "Follow me!"

"Right behind 'ya, pop!" Ranma responded and jumped to a pole of his own.

Meanwhile, the guide gasped as he realized that his two guests were much stranger than he'd thought. They were martial artists intent on using the grounds. But hadn't the older read the brochure? It clearly stated that those who fall in the pools...

"Hey sirs, what are you doing?!" the guide screamed. "Uh, I have not finished my tragic story! You can't go there!" He tried desperately to wave the two men down from the poles but to no avail. Genma and Ranma ignored his warnings and were focused on each other.

"I won't go easy on you, Ranma!" Genma shouted and prepared a ready stance.

Ranma followed with a stance of his own and snorted a laugh. "Well, that's just the way I like it!" Again, Genma could not be more proud of his son.

Wasting no time at all, Genma leapt to strike Ranma in mid air. Ranma joined him in combat and both landed quick strikes, neither of which they felt much of due to intense training the last ten years.

The guide began to whimper. "Please sirs! VERY BAD YOU FALL IN SPRING!" He had already began to suspect that they wouldn't listen but if they fell in, there was no turning back. Once again, the guide watched as the two martial artists leapt into mid air combat. Being that he'd seen some martial arts himself, he noticed a grave mistake on the elder tourist's part and his eyes went wide. He knew what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, Ranma found a quick opening and kicked his father hard. Genma was sent hurtling into one of the pools below. His last thoughts before splashing into the water below were the pride he had in his boy. Ranma beamed, full of ego at the easy blow he'd delivered. While Genma may have been top notch in the past, Ranma had clearly surpassed his father. He smiled. "Hey pop!" he yelled to the pool below. "What's up? You done already?" Ranma teased. What happened next was anything but expected.

A giant panda rose from the pool, with Genma's gi on one arm and Genma's glasses hanging off an ear!

Ranma's heart filled with fear and he had no clue what to do. Turning towards the guide, he saw that instead of fear, the guide had sorrow written on his face. Full of anger and fear, Ranma addressed the guide. "Why are you crying, you jerk?!" Ranma yelled. The panda jumped onto a pole and resumed a fighting stance. "Wait, I recognize that stance!" Ranma stated, uncertain. "P... pop?!" The panda nodded, affirming Ranma's suspicions. Panda Genma glared at Ranma and prepared to attack. Ranma, completely confused and suspicious addressed the guide again. "What...what the hell is that?" Ranma demanded, pointing at his now feral father.

The guide pulled out a sign with Chinese written on it and began to speak. "That one 'Shonmao – ni – chuan', spring of drowned panda!" he translated. Ranma began to feel his heart pump faster as his brain started to catch onto to the brief parts he'd heard of the guides words before. The guide became somber as he spoke next. "Very tragic story of panda who drown two thousand year ago! The legend say whoever fall in spring take body of panda!"

Ranma could hardly believe it. He trusted his father but Genma had never said a word about curses. And although he'd waved them down from the poles, the guide hadn't warned them hard enough. His anger returned. "Hey buddy, you never said anything about that to us!" Ranma accused. The guide only held his head in his hand, shaking his head in sorrow for the poor soul who was now a panda.

'That's because I had assumed your father had read the brochure, young sir!' he thought. Turning his head up, the guide realized that more tragedy was about befall his tourists and went to warn Ranma of the danger approaching.

Too late! Panda Genma had taken the distraction as an opportunity to teach Ranma about being aware of his surroundings and had jumped behind Ranma to knock him into the springs. Grumbling as he had no ability to speak as a panda, Genma thought, 'That'll teach 'ya boy! A curse for all time will be a daily reminder to never let your guard down!' Ranma yelled in horror as he too fell into a spring. Underneath the water, Ranma could definitely feel his body changing. All the emotions swirling in his head about the Jusenkyou experience and the desire to breathe distracted Ranma from the exact types of changes he was experiencing.

The guide ran towards the pool Ranma had landed in and gasped. This was not going to be pretty! Ranma emerged from the pool and the guide bowed in apology. "Ohhh... too bad!" he exclaimed as Ranma gasped for air. "You fall Nyan – ni – chaun, spring of drowned girl!" Ranma's heart stopped and looked up to the guide who was holding yet another sign. Though he couldn't read Chinese, the guide was speaking Japanese.

"What?" Ranma spoke with unease. The feminine voice that escaped his mouth only furthered Ranma's terror.

"There very tragic legend," the guide continued, "of young girl who drown in spring one thousand, five hundred year ago! Now, whoever fall in the spring, take a body of a young girl!" Ranma gasped in horror as he realized that something felt heavy on his chest and looked down. What he found staring back at him was cleavage. He felt around his new bosom to confirm it all but still felt in shock and couldn't believe it. He closed his eyes and lifted his head. He had to confirm for real. Grabbing at the edges of his gi, he prepared himself for the worst. Opening it up, the worst wasn't even close to what he saw hanging there...

...a pair of breasts. He had indeed become a she! She screamed in horror. He was not the man he'd pushed himself to be anymore.

"You see! Now, you young girl!" the guide mused.

* * *

As Genma finished his story of their tragic change, Ranma knelt there absolutely livid. Akane had watched Ranma the entire time Genma had been talking; she had watched as Ranma's embarrassment had turned to hatred. 'That must be what I look like when I'm frustrated.' she though to herself. 'Maybe I should try and calm myself like Kasumi says.'

Soun broke the silence that had befallen them. "The legendary grounds of accursed springs! Its true horror has been shrouded in mystery, until now!"

Ranma felt a twig snap in his brain at the statement "true horror". He could no longer stay silent. "What do you mean, true horror?!" he shouted, accusingly. "This is all your fault, old man! What's the idea of dragging me to a place like that, anyway huh? Besides, you left out the most important detail. The brochure you got of the place was all in Chinese and you can't read a lick of the language!" He turned his head with "hmph" and scowled.

"Ranma!" Genma yelled as he stood up. "You sound like a..." he paused as he grabbed Ranma's shirt to take hold of his son, "...GIRL!" Genma shouted and threw his son back towards the koi pond. Ranma took brief notice of the pun his father had created but lost focus on it as he landed in the cold water. Genma stood in the living room entryway and addressed his now daughter. "Were you not prepared to lay down your life for the sake of the Art?" he screamed. Ranma fumed and picked up the bucket that just so happened to be close to her position in the pond. Filling it, she ran back with water towards her father.

"My life, YES! My MANHOOD is another story!" she screamed and doused her father with cold water. Seconds later, a panda stood in Genma's place. If anyone had been having doubts of the Saotome's "curses", this last display had erased them. "You just had to go find those training grounds, even though you didn't speak a word of Chinese!"

Soun watched on as his panda friend and "daughter – in – law" fought with each other in the hallway. "How I suffer for you!" Soun consoled.

Akane rolled her eyes. 'Daddy, not even I can imagine how this feels.' she thought.

Picking up a kettle of hot water Kasumi had brought for tea, Soun walked over to Panda Genma. "Here." he announced and poured some water onto Genma's head. The panda immediately started flailing from the temperature of the water. "When doused with hot water, you return to human form!" Soun announced.

'Finally,' Nabiki thought impatiently, 'I was waiting for someone to explain just how they became themselves again earlier.'

Gasping at the burning on his bald head, Genma breathed hard. "It needn't be quite **that** hot, thank you!" he gasped.

Soun continued his explanation as he addressed Ranma. "When doused when cold water, you become a girl!" With that, Soun tried to return Ranma to her natural state of being. "But hot water turns you back into a boy!" Having seen what her father had just gone through, Ranma barely avoided the stream of boiling water Soun was pouring.

"HOT WATER! Not boiling!" Ranma screamed at Soun. What she found on Soun's face took her by surprise and Ranma's anger dissipated. Soun smiled even more and addressed his "daughter – in – law".

"Well now, your problem isn't so terrible after all!" Soun encouraged Ranma. She wanted to argue but Soun turned her to face the Tendo women. "Look!" Ranma decided to ignore her desire to argue and obeyed. "My oldest daughter Kasumi, she's nineteen!" Soun pointed out Kasumi and Ranma looked at her. Kasumi looked as incredulous as she had during Soun's announcement earlier. Pointing to his next daughter, Soun continued and Ranma followed his lead. "My middle daughter Nabiki, she's seventeen." Again, the look on this daughter's face was less than happy. And since Nabiki had known all along what was going on, coupled with the insanity that was Ranma's curse, she suddenly didn't care HOW cute Ranma was. Pointing to his last daughter, Soun finished his introductions. "And my youngest daughter Akane! She's sixteen!" With the introductions accomplished, Soun smiled with pride. He'd been waiting for this day for many long years. Today was the fruits of his waiting come true! "Pick any one you want; she'll be your new fiance!" Suddenly, the fight Ranma had with her father earlier in the streets came back to her mind and she grimaced. She didn't need a fiance!

Meanwhile, Kasumi and Nabiki had gathered around their little sister. "Akane would seem the wisest choice." Kasumi declared. In her mind, however, Kasumi was only trying to appeal to her desires of marrying someone older than herself. She didn't need to worry as Nabiki nodded her head in agreement.

"Couldn't agree more!" Nabiki smiled. Akane had been slowly feeling sorry for Ranma but the image of him nude in the bath and staring at her suddenly came forefront in her mind and she scowled. She wanted nothing to do with him!

"What!" she bellowed. "You must be joking! Why would I be?"

Nabiki smiled deviously. "Because you hate boys, don't you?" Akane cringed slightly and found that their earlier conversation in the dojo earlier that day had come full circle.

Kasumi smiled warmly. "Well, I guess you're in luck, Akane! Ranma's half girl!" Kasumi tried her best to encourage her sister and knew that this fact was beneficial to Akane's predicament. Akane sat there staring at Ranma. She matched Akane's gaze and yet again, the sorrow was beat out by rage.

"Me? Marry that pervert? NEVER!" Akane proclaimed. The name pervert struck Ranma and although she had thought Akane cute before, Akane's anger was too much to handle.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ranma argued. "What do you mean, 'pervert'?"

Akane got up and faced the red head. Girl form or not, the bathroom surprise had been disconcerting and Akane felt like she had been violated. "You saw me in the nude, you letch!"

Ranma had had just about enough insults and she launched into full counter argument. Cute or not, this was an affront to her manhood. "Hold it! Just a second! **You** walked in on **me**!"

"Oh yeah?" Akane countered. "Well it's different when a girl looks at a boy!" Ranma found no logic in the statement and continued her glare at this violent girl. "Pervert! Peeping tom!" Akane hurled insults like they were grenades.

Soun and Genma began laughing happily at their children's argument. Soun spoke up. "See?" he pointed out. "They're already the perfect couple!" They continued laughing.

"We are NOT a couple, we're fighting!" Akane lectured her father. Soun merely smiled, knowing that arguments were just as much a part of love as was romance and happiness. "There's no way in the world I could ever marry someone like that!" Akane spouted.

Ranma was done with this insanity and clenched her fists. "Oh yeah? My sentiments exactly! GOODBYE!" With that, Ranma stomped off to get her things from her room upstairs.

"Ranma, where are you going?" Genma asked sternly.

"I'm going back to China!" Ranma announced. "I have to find a way to change back for good!" She'd wanted none of this fiance business anyhow, no matter how cute the girl may be. "This is no time for fiances!" Ranma turned back around to look at Akane. She had expected to find the same anger she'd left there. What Ranma didn't expect to find was that for a brief moment, she saw something else in Akane's eyes. It was a brief second but the insults Akane had just hurled brought Ranma back to her anger. "By the way," she addressed Akane with that anger, "I noticed that you took a pretty good look at me too!" Akane's anger subsided a bit and although she didn't show it, she felt embarrassed at being called a pervert in less words. She had no way to counter Ranma's words and she just stood there watching Ranma's speech. "Besides! It's no big deal for me to see a naked girl! I mean, I've seen myself plenty of times, right?" Ranma's words stirred the anger back up in Akane and she grimaced. Without realizing it, Ranma chose words that lit the rocket off in Akane's mind. "And I'm better built, to boot!"

Akane stood there, absolutely livid with Ranma's attitude. She was going to say something about it still being a violation of her privacy, but the fact that Ranma had just said she was a better looking girl than her was more than insulting. She wasn't really a she, just cursed to have a female body with water. Akane was a girl all the time! Ranma began laughing at herself for having been so clever as to have beaten Akane at insults. That placed the cherry on top and Akane grabbed her weapon from earlier. Not wanting to be in the wake of Akane's deed, Soun quickly scrambled beside Genma. Ranma still stood there laughing until Akane knocked her in the head with the living room table. Ranma screamed before she fell unconscious with a sigh of defeat.

Genma regarded his "daughter". "Now that," he stated, "he had coming!"

Twenty minutes later, Ranma began to stir from her induced sleep. Raising from the bed mat Kasumi had provided for Ranma, she looked towards the presence in the room. "Oh, she's awake!" Kasumi announced. Ranma regarded her and Nabiki sitting there next to her bed. The bump on her head reminded Ranma of the earlier event and she groaned, rubbing her head. Ranma sat upright on the mat and started thinking about what she'd seen before. Was that really compassion in Akane's eyes? She definitely couldn't believe it considering everything that had occurred. "Are you ok?" Kasumi asked. "Don't think too badly of Akane, she's really a very sweet girl!" Ranma regarded Kasumi and saw honesty there. She could be sure herself but Ranma didn't know what to think at the moment. Kasumi continued. "She's just a little... high spirited."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Oh good, Kasumi. Like that explains everything!" Ranma got up and decided to take another bath. Besides, she really didn't want to be a girl right now.

Meanwhile, inside the bathroom, Akane sat washing herself since she'd had no time to do so earlier. After all, Ranma had been there. She squeezed the sponge in anger. "That nasty... make fool of me!" she thought angrily of Ranma. Her mind brought up Ranma's words again.

"And I'm better built, to boot!"

If she'd felt any compassion before, Akane had none of it now. "That... that boy! Hmmph!"

Ranma continued her trek to the changing room and regarded the same situation in her own view. Reaching again to her head, she grimaced. "Yaaa, ow! It still smarts" she announced to no one in particular. "What kind of 'girl' is she anyway?" She thought back to when Akane had been absolutely nice to her, to when Akane didn't realize that she was a he.

"You wanna be friends?"

'Friends she says!' Ranma thought spitefully. She entered the changing room and started to undress. 'So much for friends when she found out I'm a boy!' Placing her clothes on the washer, Ranma made her way to the sliding door between the bathroom and changing room.

Akane was there to greet Ranma and neither girl expected nor desired to see such a sight.

Akane looked down to see that Ranma was still a girl. 'Oh, so you think you can see me in the nude if you're a girl, huh?' she thought angrily. Ranma began to back off in fear, realizing she'd made the situation worse unwittingly. "I... uh..." she stuttered.

"Why, you, you..." Akane trailed off. The anger took hold of her and Ranma saw Akane's battle aura flicker brightly. Bracing for what was to come, Ranma gritted her teeth. Akane brought her hand up and smacked Ranma in the face hard enough to launch Ranma through the shelves beside them.

Later on, Akane sat in the living room with Nabiki at the living room table while Ranma and his father sat in the outdoors entry to the living room, their backs to the girls. Both teenagers had explained the situation to their conversation partners now and both those partners saw nothing wrong in the situation.

Nabiki took a sip of her tea. "But you were both girls at the time, right? So that makes it ok, doesn't it!" Nabiki offered. Akane scowled.

"Ok?!" she stammered. Looking towards Ranma with fire in her eyes, Akane scowled further. "Ok is not the word!"

Ranma's partner in conversation was no different. "So she's got spunk!" Genma tried to point out to his son. "That makes a fiance even more cute!"

Ranma scoffed. "Cute is not the word!" he stated with a huff. He looked back at Akane and found her staring at him. They just sat there staring for a few moments until Akane huffed and turned back towards her sister. Ranma turned back and grimaced, placing his hand on his cheek. Realizing quickly which cheek it was, Ranma grimaced. "Ow!" he commented.

What neither teenager was yet realizing was that there had been something more that day. Something so much an alternative to what they were allowing themselves to feel. The cuteness and the compassion, the friendship and sorrow were still existent. It was just going to take a little more digging than either had spent yet in order to find it.

* * *

End Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	4. Breaking Ground

**Chapter 4**

**Breaking Ground**

Akane had used the following morning to forget the problems of the prior night. And although she didn't realize, a part of her was beginning to open up to Ranma. The morning breeze fell lightly around her and Akane smiled at the beautiful weather. She always enjoyed spring, the sakura blossoms were absolutely stunning! Finally, Akane found her way back to the Tendo training hall and proceeded to make her way inside.

However, the noise of two new inhabitants caused her to step back from the entrance and grimace. It seemed every time she was about to accept the Saotomes, they went and surprised her again. "Just what is it with that family anyway?" she pondered aloud. The grunts and hiyahs of a morning workout continued as Akane entered the gate of her home. Nabiki, having completely stopped caring about the situation, had grown used to the idea of the Saotomes living with them. What she wasn't used to was hearing this much noise in the morning. Yes, Akane would spar by herself but she was never this loud. Toothbrush half out of her mouth, she stared at the sparring occurring right now.

"Well aren't they full of pep this morning?" she asked sarcastically. Soun, reading his morning paper, agreed with Nabiki with a quick affirmation. He'd been used to this kind of routine and had honestly missed it. He could understand, however, that his daughters were not. Akane approached the scene from her jog and looked outside as well. The son and father were practicing aerial combat and once again, Akane marveled at Ranma's ability. Kasumi passed by with a few plates and called out to the fighting duo.

"Mr. Saotome, Ranma! Let's have some breakfast ok?"

Both Genma and Ranma were incredibly hungry but the former wanted to finish the workout and the latter knew better than to leave a match unfinished as well. They grunted in sparring attitude and bounced back towards their starting positions. Genma watched as Ranma surveyed his father's poise, analyzing for a chance to strike. 'Ranma could not be any better than he is now. I'm so proud.' Ranma noticed the slip of a smile on his father's face and smirked. He'd always seen that during their matches since Jusenkyou and Ranma was beginning to wonder just why. However, Genma broke the musings. "Ok Ranma, once more and then let's break for breakfast." he decided. Ranma nodded and they went once again for an aerial stike. Akane watched and wondered if she could ever be that good. But she didn't let that little comment out as she had to maintain her confidence.

"I guess they are both pretty good."

Kasumi nodded. "So energetic!" she agreed with a huge smile. "And on an empty stomach, too!"

What none of them had noticed is that Genma had once again taken advantage of Ranma's distraction and knocked him into water. Landing on the side of the pond, he smiled his ego aflame. Ranma was better but still had much to learn it seemed. Oh well, he was still proud. "You're getting sloppy, boy!" Genma laughed heartily. That was, until a large pan of water creamed him in the face, bringing on the inevitable change. Meanwhile, Ranma stood on the side of the pool she'd exited and frowned with distaste.

"Oh yeah?" she spouted. "Now who's getting sloppy?" Genma the panda fumed and grabbed the pan. Walking over to his daughter, he whacked her just as hard as she'd thrown it. Akane could not help but stare, jaw open wide.

"Oh my, I imagine Mr. Saotome will need something else for breakfast." Kasumi announced. The Tendos gazed in wonder as she whipped out a plate full of chopped bamboo. "Luckily I had figured such an event might occur with cursed individuals now living here!" she beamed. Mr. Saotome looked at Kasumi and smiled with appreciation.

Later on, Ranma was strolling with his father after their bath and fuming yet again at his father's ability to not ask Ranma's opinion about his life. "Well, we are going to be staying awhile." Genma told Ranma. Ranma merely shook his fist.

"Well what about what I think?" he argued. "Don't I get a say in the matter?" He proceeded to kick his father in the back and Genma landed face first in the hallway. "Who died and made you boss?" Ranma asked indignantly. Genma was used to this sort of behavior but still wished Ranma would show more respect.

"Ranma, a martial artist must learn of the world around him so that he knows just what it is he fights for. School is a necessity of that proverb." Genma sat up and bowed his head, arms crossed. This time, Ranma didn't kick him, just splashed his father with cold water. Genma the panda sat and looked at his son indignantly.

Suddenly, Nabiki ran out from the living room and twirled around Ranma with a girlish delight. "Hi there!" she crooned. "You'll be going to the same school as Akane and me, Furinkan High School! See 'ya later!" Ranma realized he pretty much had no choice in the matter and stood their, mouth agape.

"Hey wait up, Nabiki, I'll go with you!" Akane rang out as she too made her way to the living room.

"What are you talking about, Akane?" Nabiki deviously answered. "Ranma is your fiance, you should show him to school and give him the tour!"

"Hey, that's not fair Nabiki. Come back!" Akane, one shoe still not on correctly, tugged at it as she ran into Ranma. They grimaced at each other and Akane was scared to think what might occur on the way to school with a Saotome in tow. Suddenly, her mind flitted back to the insanity that awaited her and realized she had no choice. "Come on Ranma, we're going to be late!" Ranma came back to reality.

"Well maybe I'm just not ready to leave for school yet?" Ranma countered. His last desperate attempt at avoiding the situation failed as his father handed him a book bag. Grabbing it, Ranma fumed some more. "Ok! I'll go!"

On their way to school, Ranma stayed walking on the fence beside his so called fiance. Why wasn't she nicer? It wasn't like either of them enjoyed the fact that they were betrothed beyond their own control. So why couldn't Akane just do what she'd said before, be Ranma's friend at least? If only Ranma were able to hear Akane's thoughts and vice versa. Akane walked briskly and thought of Ranma's seemingly stone exterior. Why couldn't he just open up? They'd both been forced into this fiance business and a part of her wanted to like him. They caught each others eyes briefly and looked away just as quickly with twin huffs. They stayed this way, ignoring each other though it was obvious who was present.

"Just remember, we're strangers at school, ok?" Akane bitterly spouted. Why did Ranma have to evoke this from her?

"You're telling me?" Ranma teased. He'd never teased a girl in annoyance before and wondered just what part of Akane was doing this to him.

"I just don't want you hanging around me while we're at school, understand?" Akane explained.

"Don't worry about that," Ranma spouted spitefully, "I can't stand tomboys like you!"

That had done it; it was bad enough to be called that by her sisters or schoolmates but Ranma? He'd barely known her! Jumping onto the fence herself, Ranma briefly admired Akane's sudden progression in ability. From what he'd seen during their sparring yesterday, Akane was nowhere near able to jump that high. 'I guess she learned it by watching pop and me this morning.' he supposed to himself. A sudden thwack from Akane's book bag brought him back.

"Ow, come on Akane! I was only kidding! Did 'ya have to hit me where 'ya did with the table?!" he shouted.

Akane lowered her bag, realizing Ranma was right. But she couldn't help but correct him on one thing. "We're both in no position to be picky about significant others!"

Ranma stood flabbergasted. He took in Akane's words and mulled them over. She was right but he couldn't respond. If it had been anyone else, especially his father saying those same things, Ranma would have quickly kicked their feet from out of them. He could imagine his dad lying in the creek below them on the other side of the fence, complaining in panda grunts and him playing dumb as if he didn't understand. But Akane had said it; just as quickly as her emotions seemed to change, she also drew out multiple feelings in Ranma.

Akane watched as Ranma seemed to mull over her words and she huffed, turning her head aside. Suddenly, a foreign feeling entered Ranma and he wished he was more familiar with Akane so that he could hold her cheek, turn her face back towards him, and apologize for the insult. Quickly realizing what had just ran across his mind, Ranma blushed almost as deeply red as his hair in female form. Akane noticed this out of the corner of her eye. Why had Ranma suddenly gone wordless? She couldn't possibly have... suddenly, she realized that they had both become more open to each other. Blushing herself, Akane jumped back off the fence and continued walking to school.

They were only halfway there when something took place that brought both their minds off of the sudden appreciation for each other. As Ranma had run out of fence, he'd taken to walking on the ground. Still scared of the emotions he was feeling, he'd put some distance between Akane and himself. As such, he was completely prone to the water being thrown around by an elderly woman. The change was instant and Akane felt that sorrow come back. She gritted her teeth and tried her best to fend off her anger from the prior night. "Let's go get you some hot water, ok?" she offered. Ranma, indignant that somehow water always seemed to find her, looked towards Akane.

"That's ok, don't bother." she answered with a huff.

"You don't want to go to your first day of school as a **girl**, do you?"

Realizing she was right, Ranma accepted the offer and they made a short detour. "Here it is! Dr. Tofu's clinic!" Akane announced as they arrived at their destination.

"Dr. Tofu, huh? And I thought China had some strange names!" Ranma giggled. Akane smiled and entered the clinic. Why was it that in her girl form, Ranma seemed so much more able to express herself?

'Oh well, more pressing matters at hand.' Akane resolved. "Hello! Is anyone here?" She got no answer and moved off to get the hot water herself.

"Just stay right here, Ranma. I'll bring the water back myself." Akane left Ranma by herself and she put a hand on her hip.

"Oh boy, what a way to start things off." Ranma groaned, distress in her voice. "Now I'm gonna be late!"

A few seconds later, Ranma felt something touch her shoulder and all the martial arts training in the world couldn't stop her from freaking out. Jumping onto the door, she screamed. Turning back to see what had touched her, she saw a man in a gi holding a skeleton. He'd obviously used the skeleton like a ventriloquist would their dummy as he began to make the skeleton wave its hand.

"Pardon me!" the man joked with a high pitched voice. He'd seen Ranma leap onto the door and felt slightly ashamed. But that was past. "Sorry about that, miss! This is just my skeleton, Betty. You don't have to be scared of her!" Ranma slowly gained her breath back. "Lovely complexion, don't you think?" Ranma ignored the joke and was about to correct the man on her true gender.

She never got a chance as Akane came back in a hurry with the hot water. "Ranma, here's the..." she announced and closed the door on the still hanging Ranma. Akane stood briefly in shock at the sudden presence of the man before her. That shock was incredibly brief as Ranma yelled out in pain. Opening the door, Akane realized she'd hurt Ranma. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry Ranma. Here!" Akane handed the water to Ranma, still nursing her fingers. As she went to pour it on her head, Ranma realized something was occurring between the man with the skeleton and Akane. Akane seemed enamored by the man as they exchanged greetings. Once again, a foreign emotion wiggled its way into Ranma's head. Was she truly... jealous?

Later, after having returned to guy form, the two teenagers hurried quickly to school. Ranma had more than a few questions in mind, but he decided to first ask the one that had caused him finger injuries. "So that guy studies martial arts?" he asked Akane. Though she continued running, her mind skipped a beat.

"How could you tell?" Akane asked.

Ranma thought back to the incident. "Oh, I can tell. Sneaking up on me that way? I didn't even hear him coming." The image of a skeleton and the words "pardon me" in a squeaky voice played through Ranma's head.

Akane paused to answer and caught her breath; with all the distractions this morning, she wasn't looking forward to how much the morning "routine" was going to make them late. "It's true, Dr. Tofu is a very talented martial artist." Once again, Ranma leapt from his running on the fence and looked at Akane.

"So that's the Dr. Tofu you were talking about?" he asked.

Akane noticed something different in Ranma's tone when he mentioned the doctor but couldn't place it. "Yes, he's very good. Very strong in fact, he doesn't look it does he?"

Ranma's mood changed and because he was still inept in the emotional department, his reaction towards the jealousy he was feeling caused him to hurt Akane. "Hey wait a second, I thought you said you hated guys?" he teased. Akane furrowed her brow. They were approaching the Furinkan High School gates. She knew what lay before her and Ranma's comment brought her attention back to the fact that they'd both be late.

"That's right!" she yelled. "I HATE BOYS!" Ranma smiled a bit at the teasing. Looking ahead, he noticed that they were approaching the a building that resembled what his junior high – school had looked like. Ranma thought back to that time and wondered to himself why his dad had allowed him to go back to Japan junior high. Then again, trying to find out about Jusenkyou probably required his father to plan in secret. He'd summoned Ranma back just after junior – high finished and it probably signified that he'd found the brochure. Combined with with what he'd said that morning, he supposed school was just as important to his pop as martial arts were.

Ranma's assumption that they were at Furinkan was confirmed as Akane entered the gates. Just as quickly as they arrived, a suddenly torrent of students ran out of the school. Not wanting to get trampled, Ranma jumped onto the fence near the gates and watched as Akane took up a defensive stance. Looking towards the sudden crowd, he realized that not only were they all guys but that the crowd was made up of athletes of all sorts. Only a few of them were not. Ranma watched as they made their way towards Akane. "I REALLY HATE BOYS!" she yelled once again and began to take on the torrent trying to attack her. She fended off the entire lot incredibly well and Ranma wondered why they didn't just gang up on her instead of attack her one by one.

"Akane Tendo, I love you!" one of the guys shouted, as he threw a boxing glove covered punch at Akane. "This is for you!" If it weren't for the fact that he was entranced by how well Akane held herself agains the mob, Ranma would have noticed the pang of jealousy spring up at hearing the words "I love you".

"She's something else!" he commented aloud.

"HEY! RANMA!" a sudden voice drew his attention away from the incredible brawl taking place before him. Looking up, he saw Nabiki standing at a window inside the building. "Quit your gawking and get to class! Better get moving or you're going to be late!" Despite her occupied time, Akane still heard her sister's words.

'Trust me Nabiki,' she thought as she avoided the bat of a baseball player and shoved his face in the ground, 'We're too late to try and make it in time now. **He** still hasn't appeared yet!'

Meanwhile, Ranma contemplated Nabiki's words. "Yeah, I know. But what about..." he'd been about to ask about Akane's situation then stopped. Not only did she seem to be able to handle her own but he suddenly felt embarrassed about the slight tinge of chauvinism in his words. Why was he suddenly so concerned about his feelings?

"It's ok!" Nabiki yelled back, breaking him out of his contemplation. "She knows what she's doing. This happens every morning!" The thought of Akane fighting a group this large every morning boggled Ranma's mind and his jaw dropped.

"I'm late! Come on, I'm LATE!" Akane screamed as the group of slowly diminishing guys continued their assault. Ranma watched as one by one they fell and soon, Akane was left alone amongst a multitude of unconscious male forms. He smiled and saw Akane regain her composure, breaking the stance of combat. "Honestly! You would have thought they'd have learned by now!"

Suddenly, Ranma heard the slightest sound of something whipping through the air. Akane noticed it too and realized it was traveling straight for her. Taking up her ready stance again, she calculated as the object whizzed in deafening speed at her person. She grabbed it out of its deathly trajectory and stared at the object now in hand.

A red rose.

Akane stared at the rose and realized that she was in trouble. Not physically, just mentally. Ranma watched the emotions on Akane's face as storm clouds began to form above them.

"But earthlier happy is the rose distilled." a distinctively embellished voice rang out. "Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness."

* * *

End Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	5. The Blue Thunder

**Chapter 5**

**The Blue Thunder**

Ranma screwed up his face at the sudden soliloquy that had broken the mood. A teenager, obviously a year older than them, dressed in a kendo outfit appeared from behind a tree. Both Akane and Ranma could not help but be drolly unimpressed at this teenager's behavior and speech. He continued on. "These... WEAKLINGS! Such a boorish lot, truly!" Ranma could not help but get the feeling that this too happened every morning.

'What a ham!' Ranma thought to himself.

"They fought," the boy explained, "for the privilege of your company, Akane, if they could manage to defeat you that is. What fools these mortals be!" A distant clap of thunder seemed to echo this boy's words and Ranma looked up at the sky.

'Oh man, I hope this doesn't last too long.' he thought apprehensively.

"Oh?" Akane answered in kind. "And just who do you think is responsible for that, Kuno?" She dropped the rose and attempted to get inside but to no avail. Kuno raised his boken to block her path and keep her outside.

"OH! But though she be but little, she is fierce!" Kuno raised his boken and pointed to Akane. "Wilt though spar with me?"

Ranma had had enough of this clown and jumped down from the fence. He addressed Akane. "Who the heck is this joker supposed to be, Akane?" Looking over the seventeen year – old, Ranma knew what to expect from him. The question was mainly to get Akane to speak with him. Another clap of thunder rolled out, this time somewhat louder than the last. "Even the thunder is laughing at him."

"Laughing at me?" Kuno repeated, obviously irritated. "And just who are you to speak ill of your upperclassmen?" He directed the boken towards Ranma. Ranma merely smirked.

"Ranma, stay out of the way or you could get hurt!" Akane told Ranma. He looked at her and found genuine concern on her face.

'Man,' he thought sheepishly, 'Why'd I ever say she was uncute?'

"Excuse me," Kuno interrupted, "you there! Aren't you being awfully familiar with Akane?" Kuno did not like what he saw unfolding before him and this whelp was a violation of the announcement.

"Well, yeah. But..." Ranma trailed off in his answer. Though the first punch through their defenses had brought out something in them both, Ranma still found it hard to state his emotions.

"Yeah but what, Ranma?" Akane asked sarcastically and turned her head. They definitely would be late to class.

Kuno would not be ignored. "Who do you think you are, you insolent whelp?!" he yelled. "Tell me how you know Akane!"

Ranma knew the beginning to a challenge any day and was glad for the distraction from his thoughts. Smiling, he went to answer Kuno's question. "Well I'm..."

"WAIT!" Kuno interrupted Ranma yet again and the latter stood their wordless. "Is it not the custom to give one's own name first? Fine then, mine I shall give!" Ranma could not tell if Kuno was overly dramatic on purpose or was just an idiot. "I am the undefeated captain of this school's kendo club!" Kuno announced with pride. As a smile slid across his face, more thunder rang out as if to adorn his words. "The rising new star of the high – school fencing world! The sound of my voice strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies!" Ranma could no longer help himself and began to chuckle. Definitely an idiot. "My peers call me 'The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High'! " Kuno rose his boken into the air and a bolt of lightning pierced the sky behind him as he did so. Idiot he may be, but nature sure seemed to come to his theatrics. "Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen!" Kuno finished with a flourish and pointed his boken back to Ranma.

Not sure how to say anything after the show he'd just seen, Ranma stood speechless again. As Nabiki and her two friends had still been watching from the window, they heard Kuno's rant. "Did he just call himself, 'Blue Thunder' ?" one of them asked.

"Have you heard that?" the other asked.

"Nope." Nabiki responded. "It's news to me." If nothing else, Kuno was entertaining to watch. Especially since Kuno **was** the other shoe waiting to drop, Nabiki always enjoyed toying with him.

"Last I heard, he was calling himself 'Shooting Star' ." They all focused back on the fight waiting to occur. Of course, she'd seen little of what Ranma could do so she was unsure of the outcome.

Back in the middle of the action, Ranma finally gained his voice. "Well, I'm uh... I'm uh... I'm staying at the Tendo martial arts training hall!"

Kuno fumed at the thought. "Staying with the Tendos?! Under the same roof as Akane?!" Kuno could no longer restrain himself and charged at Ranma, striking through thin air as Ranma flipped over Kuno's head to avoid the blow.

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts!" Ranma announced. 'Finally, a decent opponent!' he thought with a smile. "Akane, hold my bag please!" Ranma asked as he threw it over to her. Catching the bag, Akane remarked on the politeness he'd used just then. That was not the same boy she'd argued with last night. In fact he was... attractive. She blushed at the thought and thanked kami – sama that no one was paying attention to her. Ranma landed behind Kuno gracefully and struck a defensive pose.

'Now why didn't he do that with me?' Akane wondered.

"I accept," Ranma announced with pride, "your challenge!" Lightning stuck again as if to approve of the battle about to occur. Akane looked on with uncertainty. Ranma had been good in their match but could he really take on Kuno? Time would tell.

"The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure." Kuno stated.

"Come on man, stop with the theatrics and just fight!" Ranma exclaimed. Unaffected, Kuno kept his limited cool.

"So, you've been hounding Akane, eh?" Kuno assumed with his limited brain capacity. Ranma looked embarrassed but stood his ground.

"Look, it's nothing like that, ok?" Ranma espoused fervently. "I'm just her fiance." Ranma didn't realize what he was saying until he said it. Akane blushed and both realized that both of them were actually ready for something just yesterday they were livid about. Surprised at how quickly he'd come to like what little he'd known about Akane, Ranma almost missed the look on Kuno's face.

"Fi... f... fiance?!" Kuno stammered. "There is no way on this earth or in heaven that is true!" He ran forward to strike his target, denying either teenager the time to fully digest the idea of their acceptance. "Deny your vile lie and submit to your punishment, you fool!" Kuno, having closed the gap between them, struck again at Ranma missing entirely as the boken broke the solid, stone fence. Looking up, Kuno saw that Ranma was bouncing off the tree beside them. He struck again as Ranma avoided contact with the boken. The tree split in half at Kuno's strike point and the no longer connected half landed on the ground between them both.

Akane was in still in shock from Ranma's announcement of their forced betrothal. And considering who she was, Akane surprised herself when instead of getting mad about it she was suddenly concerned for Ranma's survival. Meanwhile, Ranma decided to use his jealousy to fuel himself. Not exactly the same thing he'd used before but it seemed to work as he felt himself growing strong in mind to take on this Shakespeare babbling idiot. Running straight up to Kuno, Ranma prepared a speech and began. "Listen pal, let's make one thing..." Ranma dodged jabs from Kuno's boken as he spoke, "...PERFECTLY CLEAR!" He suddenly had Kuno backed up against the hole in the stone fence created earlier. Having never been matched toe to toe like this, Kuno was in a shock of his own.

'He's... he's good!' Kuno admitted to himself. The idea that someone else in Furinkan High was any where near Kuno's level besides Akane was beyond his understanding. 'I must cut this weed before it grows and destroys my reputation!'

"I **am** Akane's fiance and whether you like it or not," Ranma shoved his face straight up into Kuno's face, the latter cringing slightly, "it's going to happen!" Another lightning strike took place and slowly but surely, rain began to fall. 'Ah man, looks like my secret is gonna come out anyway. This numbnut is taking too much time.' Akane felt a few pelts herself and wide eyed, stared at Ranma. Just after an announcement to the Blue Idiot of Furinkan high of their betrothal, Ranma was going to turn girl? That had been the whole reason they went to Dr. Tofu's! Now the whole high – school gossip league was going to be abuzz (as if Ranma being her fiance wasn't enough).

The rain picked up and Kuno watched as the man before him suddenly turned into a red head bursting with healthy beauty. He felt compelled to ask. "And just who are you, my fair maiden?" Ranma took a step back, had Kuno really not taken in the truth? Maybe he was more of an idiot than Ranma had taken him for? No matter.

"Kuno," Ranma asked, "are you really so stupid that you can't see what's right in front of your own face? It's me! Ranma Saotome! The same guy who you were just fighting?"

Meanwhile, Nabiki's friends were staring wide eyed at the spectacle below. "Did Ranma just turn into a girl?"

Nabiki shook her head. "Yes..." was all she could manage, the idea of Ranma's curse infecting more than just their home boggling her mind.

"But how is that even possible?"

"It's a looooooooooong story, trust me. Even I didn't believe it at first."

Kuno shook his head. "I'm sorry, my fiery haired beauty." Kuno relaxed his boken. "I know when I see deception before me. You cannot be the same fool Ranma Saotome." Ranma gritted his teeth. Did anything get through Kuno's skull?

"Look," Ranma sighed, "what do I gotta do to prove this to you?"

"But maiden, why wouldst thou desire the slightest relation to someone so vile? You are but a flower and Ranma's potent power as a weed would surely destroy your love." Ranma was done. With a jump into the air, he prepared a final strike. "Ah!" Kuno realized (or at least, what he thought he realized), what this truly enigmatic beauty wanted. "A fight is it? Then I shall spar!" He rose his boken and prepared an attack. Akane watched in both horror and amazement as Ranma closed in on Kuno with only a finger ready to attack. Surely a boken required more than just that!

After their brief encounter, Ranma had merely walked away. Kuno, surprised at feeling nothing but a slight tap on his forehead, had been left in the courtyard flabbergasted. He knew not what had occurred nor why his opponent had suddenly quit the fight. "And what of Saotome?!" he bellowed into the storm as he finally headed to class. "Whilst thou really betray a challenge?!" Ranma had merely smirked.

In class (after grabbing some hot water, of course), Ranma and Akane sat and waited for their inevitable punishment for being late. It came. "Class," the teacher announced, "this is a new student amongst us. His name is Ranma Saotome and he recently came back from China so let's all give him a warm 'Ni – hao' welcome!" The class welcomed Ranma and he smiled heading back to his seat. That smile faded quickly as soon as he saw the look in Akane's eyes: she was angry with him again.

'Uh – oh, what now?' he thought.

"However," the teacher continued on, "that doesn't excuse the fact that he and Akane Tendo were both late. Please go stand out in the hall." Minutes later, Akane and Ranma stood in the hall with buckets in hand. Akane didn't look at him and Ranma wanted to find out why. But he didn't feel comfortable as was so he took the bucket in hand and dumped it on himself. This sudden activity caught Akane's attention and she looked as female Ranma stood before her.

"What's wrong, Akane?" Ranma asked. Her face told Akane she was serious so instead of holding in, Akane answered her question.

"What's wrong?!" she chided bitterly. Ranma's heart broke a little and she gulped. "You could have been hurt, you dolt! That's what's wrong!" Akane was surprised to find herself caring for Ranma so quickly after the incident the prior night but somehow, his girl form was alleviating some of that anger. "You shouldn't show off and take a fight seriously." She huffed and turned back away from Ranma. Ranma herself realized she'd hurt Akane and decided to try and console her.

"I... I'm..." Ranma stuttered. Even in girl form, it was hard to say. Finally, she decided to bow so that she wasn't looking at Akane. "I'm sorry." Akane looked back. The bowing female Ranma brought something to the forefront of Akane's thoughts. This truly was happening, whether anyone (not just Kuno) liked it or not. And it wasn't anyone's fault but the two teenagers involved in the betrothal. She sighed and felt some anger ebb away.

"It's ok, Ranma. I just hadn't gotten a good idea of your skill level yet so I was concerned." Akane explained. Raising from her bow, Ranma saw Akane's face was still depressed. This hurt her more than anything and Ranma decided to put it to a stop. She smiled, giggling slightly, hoping Akane would join her. Akane caught the smile and after a brief battle of her emotions, she smiled too.

* * *

"IS IT REALLY TRUE THEN?!" Kuno burst out. Nabiki Tendo was his classmate and if anyone had the scoop on the matter of anything at Furinkan High – School, it was Nabiki Tendo. She had just finished telling him.

"Yep, his daddy and my daddy decided last night. Akane and Ranma are gonna be married!" Nabiki smiled. Kuno was too easy to tease.

"This... this..." Kuno could feel himself burning with rage, as if he were Mt. Fuji himself. "THIS IS A TRAVESTY AGAINST ALL! AHHH!" He stood up from his seat, arms out in rage. A chalkboard eraser came sailing from the front of the class and hit him straight in the head.

"Kuno! Be quiet!"

"Yes sir!"

A few moments later, he felt his forehead throbbing. "A mere eraser should not betwixt my temple so! Nabiki Tendo, lend me your mirror so I may tend to my wounds!"

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Always with the elegant language, Kuno baby. Just speak normally."

"I have but one soul and it is one of beauty and strength." She rolled her eyes again as she handed him the mirror. Kuno raised his hair so he could see just what ailed him so. What he found on his forehead was the kanji for "insufferable". Kuno was about to cry out in anger when he realized just who could have done such an act. The battle outside before school rose to his mind and the slight touch on his forehead by Ranma Saotome suddenly became something much worse. "To think, Ranma Saotome is a skilled martial artist yet he cannot spell!" Nabiki had been watching Kuno and had seen the mark on his forehead. The idea that such a complicated marking was made so quickly that it looked like a poke was amazing.

"Ranma is pretty damned good, isn't he?" Nabiki remarked. Kuno wasn't listening, he'd been writing on his paper.

"My name is written like this!" he held it up for Nabiki to see. He'd written the kanji for "capable". She giggled and started writing her own kanji. Finishing, she held it up and Kuno lowered his eyelids. 'She has but the mind of a trickster and twice as devious.'

"Isn't it more like this?" she teased. The kanji for "incapable" written on the paper, she giggled again.

"You do realize that I hate you, right?"

"Oh, I'm so scared!"

* * *

As they laughed, Ranma suddenly felt a twinge in her neck. She rubbed at it and felt what seemed like a bruise. She tried to quickly cover it up but Akane saw it. The laugh had been good but her anger was not forgotten.

"See! I told you!" Akane folded back down Ranma's collar to take a look. "If you'd been any closer, you'd be breathing through your neck right now!"

Ranma hung her head. "But, how? All he did was a normal strike like he had been!"

Akane shook her head. "Kuno's better than he looks." she argued. Ranma merely continued sulking. Akane hated this and decided to quit hounding him for it. "It's ok though, in the end you're safe!" She placed a smile back on her face and Ranma lifted her head. Seeing that smile lifted Ranma's mood and she smiled back. Then something else came to Ranma's mind.

"So Akane," Ranma slyly changed subjects, "what was with the display this morning? Don't tell me you really go through that every day?"

Akane sighed and nodded. "Yes, and it's all stupid Kuno's fault." she lamented. Somehow, Ranma wasn't surprised at all. Kuno had definitely made an impression on Ranma and it wasn't at all good for the kendoist in any definition. "Back at the beginning of the year, Kuno made this dumb speech..."

_ The beginning of the year speech competition was about to begin and Hiroshi was about to go up and greet his class mates. He'd been looking forward to this and he always enjoyed talking to his peers. However, before he got a chance, Tatewaki Kuno pushed him aside and made his way to the podium. "Hey!" Hiroshi called out. "Wait your turn!"_

_ "The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure. If you do not wish to see another day, I am glad to oblige, dear Hiroshi." Kuno stated as he pointed his boken at the poor student on the floor._

_ Hiroshi gulped. "No, no. Go ahead!" Kuno was a bastard but he was skilled and Hiroshi didn't want to be on the other side of that skill. Kuno raised his boken and continued on stage. Many students were surprised to see Kuno walk on stage instead of Hiroshi. They were about to start booing when Kuno began his planned rant._

_ "The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure." Kuno began._

_ 'Oh Kuno, baby. Why do you feel the need to overuse that blasted phrase so much?' Nabiki thought as she watched the spectacle on stage._

_ "If __**you**__ wish to take out Akane Tendo,"_

_ 'Wait, what?' Akane had been ignoring the idiot up until that point._

_ "...then you must defeat her in combat!" Kuno finished with a flourish. The majority of the male population in the room started stirring as they had always wanted to date Akane Tendo but never felt the courage to do so. Now, they had a way to feel comfortable getting closer! "I, Tatewaki Kuno, will permit no other terms!" Kuno slammed his fists into the podium. "Now! Am I making myself perfectly clear?!"_

"...and that's how this whole morning fiasco started." Akane finished.

Ranma felt herself cringe; this guy was more than just an idiot, he was a creep! Even more surprising to her was the fact that the school even allowed this to happen. Then again, in junior high – school she...

* * *

The thought of Ranma and Akane betrothed boiled and bubble in Kuno's head. It frothed and so did Kuno's anger. 'The scoundrel found himself a way to hound Akane without succumbing to my terms!' Kuno screamed inside his head. 'I have but one rule and Ranma Saotome slipped through like the thread and needle!' He scrunched his eyes closed and clenched his fists. Nabiki had been watching his face the entire time and couldn't help but tease the poor boy.

"Is the vengeance of heaven going to strike, Kuno baby?" she asked. This served to tip over his anger and Kuno slammed his fist into his desk.

"I MADE MYSELF PERFECTLY CLEAR!" Kuno yelled out loud. Another chalkboard eraser slammed into his forehead.

"KUNO!" the teacher yelled. "Go stand in the hall!"

"Yes sir." Kuno accepted with a grimace. He grabbed his boken and decided to find the vile sorcerer Ranma Saotome. Heading out into the halls, he placed his buckets on either side of his boken and the boken on his shoulders. The homeroom for Ranma's grade in mind, Kuno set out to indeed strike his vengeance.

* * *

After finishing her story, Akane watched Ranma's reaction. He was obviously dumbfounded and just stood there looking shell shocked. It wasn't too surprising, the entire school who wasn't trying to date Akane had sat there after Kuno's speech wondering if he was an idiot. Not that anyone didn't know the answer to that question already. Akane moved on to the subject that had been bothering her since Ranma and her had begun talking. She fidgeted slightly, though, as their relationship was still young. 'Relationship? Did I really?' Akane thought. She shook it from her head and addressed Ranma. "Ranma..." she began.

"Hmm?" Ranma answered.

"Why... why is it that you seem to talk more openly when you're a girl?" Akane finished her question. She wasn't sure what Ranma's reaction was going to be but the red head beside her skipping a beat and saying nothing was definitely the last thing she thought it would be. Ranma just stood there, unsure of what to say. She'd never thought about it and since no one had ever asked her that question, she'd had no reason to do so. Now here was Akane asking Ranma and she had nothing. The sudden urge to change back came to Ranma and she gulped.

"Can you direct me to find some hot water, Akane?" Ranma asked.

'It figures.' Akane thought to herself. 'Maybe someday you'll open up.' She pointed towards the bathroom. "There you go." Ranma ran off with her bucket. 'Oh Ranma...'

"RANMA SAOTOME!" a familiar voice echoed around the hall corner. Akane was broken from her musings of Ranma and looked towards the end of the hall. Sure enough, Kuno came dashing around the corner with buckets in tow. "Ranma! I will smite thee for your insolence!"

Akane rolled her eyes. "What is it now, Kuno?" she asked, realizing just how narrow an escape "female" Ranma had made.

"The vengeance of heaven..."

"Yeah, I know that part Kuno, just spit out the rest."

Kuno stared at Akane. "Why fair one, does the voice of an angel wreak havoc on your day?" Kuno had briefly forgotten his vendetta and spoke with his love.

'Oh geez!' Akane placed her head in her hand and shook it in annoyance. Like she had said, not physically just mentally damaged.

"He bothering you Akane?" Ranma called out as he returned from his hot water adventure.

"Ranma!" Kuno called out, his attention focused once more. "I will free this young one from your clutches. You are but a shadow of my superiority!"

"Seriously, how can your family stand your language? It's gotta be a task just trying to say good night!" Ranma teased his opponent. It worked and Kuno growled.

"Don't tread where thou cannot stand, vile sorcerer!" Kuno responded. "I will never accept this travesty and its attempts at undermining my will!"

Ranma was taken aback. "Wait, what travesty?" he asked, confused as to Kuno's sudden aim straight at Ranma. Sure, they'd fought this morning but the battle was over. Now what was causing him grief?

"What travesty?" Kuno repeated indignantly. "As if it weren't in plain sight!"

"No offense Kuno but your idea of plain sight is way off the mark." Ranma replied. The words angered Kuno to his fullest and he prepared a strike. Forcing the buckets on his boken to one side, Kuno flung said objects in Ranma's direction. Not wanting to make another trip to the bathroom, Ranma jumped to dodge. Landing on one of the buckets, Ranma saw that Kuno was only using the buckets as distraction. Another mighty blow sliced through the metal and Ranma jumped back besides Akane to avoid the boundless water.

"You are a slippery devil, but no matter." Kuno smiled as he closed his eyes. Then, with every ounce of injustice he felt, he called out, "THIS BETROTHAL SHALL NEVER BE! I WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOUR ENGAGEMENT TO AKANE TENDO!"

Both Ranma and Akane went pale at hearing Kuno announce this so loudly. Surely the whole student body would know from such a loudspeaker. They both tried to get Kuno to shut up.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" they waved simultaneously. But it was too late, suddenly the windows from their classroom opened and millions of students were standing there, yelling and gawking at the news they'd just heard.

"You're engaged to Akane?! You lucky dog!"

"Oh Akane, you're so lucky!"

"Hey, I thought you had to fight her first?"

"He so handsome, nice catch!"

Ranma and Akane stood back to back as this continued and couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Kuno didn't allow them much time for such emotions as he swung to strike Ranma.

"Out of the way, Akane!" Ranma yelled and pushed her aside. However, this left him open for attack and grimaced slightly as the boken made contact.

"No matter the familiarity you have with Akane, you shall never be her fiance! And the first blow shall be the beginning of your ending!" Kuno announced in triumph. Ranma wasn't about to continue his fight here.

"Look Kuno, this is no place to fight." Ranma explained and ran back to the hall's end. "Follow me!"

"That I shall!"

Akane had stood there mouth agape at what was taking place. The Saotomes definitely made her mornings look tame. "Hey, Ranma! RANMA!" she called and ran after the two duelists. The rest of the classroom followed suit as well, make a huge ruckus as they ran. The teacher watched as his class fell into calamity and knew he couldn't do much to stop it. Instead, he made the only comment he could.

"Hey!" he yelled after his discordant class. "Run quietly in the halls!" His words went unnoticed and he sighed.

Meanwhile, Ranma kept his pace and looked back to see Kuno, Akane, and his classmates following. 'Guess I've made an impression!' he joked to himself. Looking back forward, he saw an open window. Jumping into it, he addressed Kuno. "Now here's a great shortcut!" and with that, Ranma flung himself outside.

"I follow!" Kuno replied with fervor.

As Akane caught up to the window, she realized that Ranma had made a mistake without realizing it. "HEY! Ranma, you dummy! This is..."

"It's ok Akane, I..." Ranma called back, interrupting. However, as his gaze peered towards the ground he realized he wasn't going to be making an easy footed landing. Three stories below his "shortcut" lay the school swimming pool. Kuno had already begun to flail as he fell towards the water below. "WATER! WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE WATER!" Ranma screamed before both men splashed with a giant wave in their wake.

"Oh man, this is the third floor."

"That had to hurt."

"Oh look, Kuno's floating to the top!"

"Yeah, but where's Saotome?"

The classes comments floated through Akane's head and she watched the events transpire. Kuno had indeed floated to the top. She knew Ranma wasn't exactly keen on his secret getting out but there had to be an easier way than just stay in the pool.

At that moment, Ranma tried her best to swim as low as possible and get out of the pool without attracting attention. Kuno had seen her transformation already but since he was an idiot, he hadn't figured out that two plus two equaled four. Ranma didn't need nor want to figure out how many more idiots went to school here and continued her swim.

"I gotta get out here!" Ranma gurgled.

"Saotome!" another gurgle sounded and Ranma soon realized that Kuno was still conscious. She swam even more furiously to escape the stupidity of this fight. "I fight on!" Kuno made his way towards Ranma and tried to grasp around her (or him in Kuno's mind). When he'd finally found a good hold, Kuno pulled to turn Ranma around.

What he was not expecting was to take hold of something soft and supple. Ranma began fuming with indignity. She'd had enough breast squeezing for a life time! Kuno, on the other hand, just floated in the water, bewildered by this sudden turn of events. Ranma never allowed his thoughts to gather as she grabbed his head and sank to the bottom of the pool. Using all her force, Ranma made a colossal leap out of the pool. The crowd, including Akane, at the third story window gasped in awe as Ranma jumped straight out of the water and holding onto Kuno by just his head. They landed (Kuno's head first) onto the side of the pool and Ranma made a kick jump off of Kuno's face to escape. Watching these events, Akane left the rest of her class to find Ranma.

Meanwhile, Kuno lay there at the edge of the pool, still with his hair drifting in the water. His mind was replaying both this morning and his recent involvement with Ranma Saotome. Both times, a fiery haired maiden had taken his place. He truly thought that Saotome had been his target in the pool but he'd been mistaken. "Could have sworn that was Ranma!" he declared. "And yet, they look so similar. Only her complexion gives away the true poetry." He thought about it again. Ranma had switched with this girl twice now and around water. "They look alike and Saotome never appears in watery situations. This can mean only one thing!"

Akane ran around with her hot wattle kettle, searching for Ranma. The red head had leapt this direction, she knew it. Suddenly, Akane heard the dripping of water and ran that direction. Ranma squeezed out her pants, trying to get as much water out as she could. "Stupid Kuno!" she mumbled. "He didn't have to squeeze me so hard. Man, being a girl sucks!" Akane stopped short of the tree Ranma was sitting in as she heard Ranma's comment.

"Being a girl sucks, huh?" she teased. Ranma heard the voice and look her way. "Then why do you spend so much time as one, hmm?" She stuck her tongue out in amusement. Ranma couldn't decide what to do. Akane was managing to combine two ideas Ranma had previously thought impossible to combine; Akane was both cute and annoying. Ranma finally decided to just join Akane's game and made a face right back at her. Akane smiled deviously. "I guess you don't want this then, hmm?" Holding up the hot water kettle, Ranma suddenly changed attitudes.

"No, no! Give it to me!" Ranma grabbed desperately for the savior. Akane giggled at Ranma's desperation.

"Here, catch!" Akane threw the kettle up to Ranma but her attention was suddenly drawn else where. Something was approaching them. Akane caught sight of Kuno's boken and prepared a stance. "Use the hot water already, would 'ya?" she called up to Ranma. Ranma, however, was having a hard time just balancing using only her feet to catch hold of the tree branch and hold the water kettle. Kuno continued his search for the "vile Ranma Saotome" and instead found Akane standing at ready.

"Akane Tendo!" he exclaimed. "And what ailment have you with me?"

"Alright Kuno, I challenge you!" Akane announced. Ranma had just gained her balance when she heard Akane challenge Kuno.

'Wait, what?' Ranma thought. Yet a third foreign emotion slipped into Ranma's world as she found herself wanting to defend Akane.

"Lest too light winning make the prize light!" Kuno declared. "I accept your challenge. If you win, I will allow you to date me. But be warned, I am prepared to lose!"

Akane grimaced. "Oh please, I don't care who wins. And I definitely won't..."

"...she will not be dating you in this life or the next, dumbass!" Ranma interrupted Akane. She had made a graceful landing, kettle still in hand.

"Why pigtailed one, you are here to spar as well?" Kuno asked. Ranma couldn't help but grimace as well.

"Why are you still a girl?" Akane barked at Ranma. She'd hoped to buy Ranma some time but Ranma involving herself in the fight wouldn't help that cause.

"Look, I'm not going to stand by while Hamlet's stupid cousin tries to hit on you, alright?" Ranma barked back with a flourish.

"Meep!" Akane flushed brightly and couldn't help but admire Ranma's change in demeanor. No, it wasn't sudden. They'd already past that stage through the night. Now it seemed they had to sort through the mess of emotions to truly combat the accident in the bathroom.

"So, you defend your brother's honor, is that it?" Kuno called out.

"What?" Ranma's attention was brought back to the kendoist.

"Your brother." Kuno stated a matter of factly. His eyes closed and boken to his side, he drew a Rose from his clothing. "It's all too easy to see that no man can become a woman. Thus, the replacement of you in his stead is but a mere easy conclusion."

Ranma stared at Kuno. "Listen up and watch well, Kuno. Because it's a lot simpler than you think!" Ranma scoffed inwardly. A Jusenkyou curse was simple? Hell, even Ranma herself hadn't believed she was a girl until she saw her own breasts uncovered.

"What are you getting at, fair one?" Kuno flung the rose to Ranma at the same speed he'd done with Akane that morning. Ranma caught it but only shook her head.

"I'm getting at **this**!" she yelled. Tossing the rose away, Ranma poured the hot water in the kettle on top of herself and closed her eyes as she changed back into a guy. Kuno watched but Akane could tell he wasn't truly understanding. If he had, the look on his face would have been one of shock and awe, not neutrality and understanding.

"Ranma Saotome, I admire your ability and mastery of such black arts." Kuno stated. Ranma raised his eyebrow, incredulous. Black arts? "But I must protest. Such devilry is unbecoming of a warrior like you." Akane gasped; Kuno had never been one to accept defeat and yet here he was complimenting Ranma for his abilities. "Again I say, it is unbecoming. Please, when thou art ready to fight fairly come find me and we shall finish this. For I still approve not, even that which parents make sacred. Akane shall be mine." With that, Kuno walked back to the school and disappeared inside.

Ranma blinked a few times. "Did... did he say I used black magic to defeat him?" Akane nodded. She too was confounded by Kuno's explanation for Ranma's curse. Kuno was never a bright one but it didn't make his explanations any easier to swallow. Akane suddenly realized Ranma's battle aura burning brightly.

"You will take that back, Kuno! I am an **honest** man!" Ranma yelled out. This was not what Akane had been expecting for Ranma's first day of school. And she'd honestly thought that if her engagement got out, Ranma would be the one fighting off suitors. Now it seemed that because they had accepted the matter, Ranma was the one trying to prove himself. So many issues to resolve and yet Akane knew she couldn't convince Ranma otherwise. She'd seen his ire last night and had realized now that maybe they did make the perfect couple.

* * *

End Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	6. Swallow Your Pride

**Chapter 6**

**Swallow Your Pride**

That evening at the Tendo residence, the days events were taking their effect on the Tendo family itself. The only member not seemingly effected by Ranma and Akane's actions was Kasumi Tendo. She stood in the kitchen, washing some dishes to use for the night's dinner. Humming a cheery tune, she went about her business without a negative thought.

Just outside the kitchen, however, Nabiki and Akane walked past and were deep in conversation. "Gave your fiance the grand tour today, huh?" Nabiki teased. Akane didn't need anymore problems than she had so she lied.

"Stop calling him that, I never asked for any of this, Nabiki!" she hoped her facade would work. It didn't.

"Oh? Sure you never asked for any of it but I've seen the way you two act around each other." Nabiki smiled and Akane gulped. Once again, Nabiki Tendo proved to her family that nothing got past her. Akane sheepishly looked up at her sister. "Don't worry!" Nabiki grinned, throwing up a peace sign with her fingers. "Your secret is as safe as Ranma's secret is with Kuno!" Akane chuckled a bit at the jab at Kuno's sake. The memory of that fight brought her back to reality as she realized Ranma and her had a lot to discuss.

Meanwhile, in the training hall Ranma and his father were discussing the days events as well. On top of that, they were training; each of them had their hands out to balance themselves as they stood on their heads. Genma addressed his son. "From what I understand, Akane really looked out for you in school today, boy!" Ranma gulped, he needed to keep up his facade, at least with his father.

"Eh, it's not like I asked her to." Ranma commented and turned his head. Having turned his head, he realized someone else was present. He suddenly recognized the pink dress of Akane's and gulped again.

"Oh yeah?" Akane bellowed. Genma got up from his stance and knocked Ranma back to a kneeling position.

"Foolish boy!" Genma lectured. "Have you learned nothing? I've taught you better manners than to ignore a debt of honor!"

"Don't worry about that, Uncle Saotome!" Akane countered. She looked straight at Ranma and glared. He shrunk back; Akane had the ability to really get to him with **any** emotion, it seemed. "He doesn't even need to apologize!" Akane shouted at him and turned around to walk back inside.

"Akane, wait!" Ranma called after her.

"And here I thought..." Akane trailed off and found she had begun to cry. Why? Why was it that Ranma was just a better person to deal with when he wasn't a guy? She ran inside and Ranma got up to go after her. He was interrupted by his father's rantings.

"OH! What good are these hands if they cannot teach my only heir how to walk the path of martial righteousness?!" Genma cried out in agony. Ranma rolled his eyes and walked back into the dojo for a short minute. "Oh my son, my only son!" Genma's tears pressed him further and he dropped his clenched fists. Staring at the floor for a few seconds, Genma went to turn and face Ranma. "Son... I have... FAILED YOU!" It took a second but he realized Ranma wasn't paying attention to him. In fact, Ranma was currently in the middle of kicking a bucket of water at his father. Genma cringed as the bucket came flying towards him. With a splash of water and the bucket bouncing off his head, Genma changed into his cursed form.

"Give the dramatics a rest, pop! I've had enough of that for one day, trust me!" Ranma declared. Panda Genma merely stared at his son and realized that something else was at play here. But for the life of him, he could not figure it out. He walked out of the dojo confused and made for the bathroom. Ranma sat back down and started mulling over his day. So many questions and things to discuss and now he'd gone and angered Akane again. Not even on purpose, he'd done it because he needed to keep up the fac...

A thought occurred to Ranma and he decided to try it. Running out of the dojo, Ranma made his way towards the kitchen. Soun watched as his son – in – law ran past the living room. "My! Kasumi was right, so energetic!" Soun smiled. He reached for a pipe and thought he'd find Genma for a game of Shogi. Walking in the same direction Ranma had gone, Soun went to ask Kasumi if she'd seen his friend. Entering the kitchen, he found Kasumi there taking a glass back from a female Ranma.

"Thanks Kasumi!" Ranma beamed and ran off again behind Soun.

"Now why would he want to be a girl? He seemed quite livid last night about the curse!" Soun commented.

"He said something about it being easier." Kasumi answered. "Did you need something father?"

"Have you seen Genma, dear?" Soun asked and all but forgot about Ranma.

"No I haven't. Weren't Ranma and he in the dojo?"

"I see. Perhaps he's in the bath. After all, I've seen how often those two find cold water." Soun commented and went to find Genma.

"Oh, that's too bad." Kasumi explained. Soun stopped and turned back to Kasumi. "The water stopped working so well about an hour ago. I was lucky enough to get the dishes done. Uncle Saotome won't be able to use the bathroom."

Soun nodded. "Then we'll take a trip to the public baths!" With a smile, Soun turned back again and went off to find Genma.

Meanwhile, Akane sat in her room but couldn't decide whether to fume or to cry. She thought Ranma and she had gotten past the hurtful comments! But apparently, Ranma was still holding on to them. She looked in the mirror on her vanity and sighed. 'Why is everything so difficult with you?' she pondered. 'I thought we were making progress!'

A knock at her door broke her thoughts and she went over to open it. Finding a female with red hair brought back her anger and she sniffed at her. "What do you want, **Ranma**?" Akane's words were like daggers and Ranma couldn't think of a time that she'd heard her name used as such. Still, she was here to apologize.

"I came... to say..." Ranma stuttered. Man, why was it so hard to say this? Even as a girl, Ranma found it hard. "I came... to say, I'm sorry." She bowed like she had at school. Akane was not amused.

"I said you don't have to." Akane went to close the door. But hearing those words gave Ranma an idea.

"Yes I do, Akane." she countered. Akane stopped and stared at Ranma. Something in her eyes told Akane that there was more to this and that she needed to listen to what Ranma was saying. If she could push down her anger and be concerned for the "bathroom stranger", Akane could definitely do the same to quickly hear Ranma out.

"What do you mean?" Akane asked with a tinge of bitterness.

"I mean that, well..." Ranma bit her lip. "I mean that it's just easier now."

"Huh?" Akane was confused. What was Ranma talking about?

"Being a girl, it's just easier to say certain things, you know?" Ranma looked away, ashamed. If it weren't for the fact that Ranma had answered Akane's question (somewhat) from earlier, Akane would have just slammed the door in Ranma's face. But hearing Ranma not avoid the subject meant she had been wrong about Ranma's statement in the dojo. She sighed.

"Come on in." Akane offered. Ranma looked hesitant and Akane tried to smile to encourage her. It wasn't her best and it definitely came off as fake. But Ranma realized Akane was ok with it and entered. Closing the door behind them, Akane walked ahead of Ranma and sat on her bed. "Before we continue with this, though, why did you say that to your dad? The whole thing about not having asked me to help you?"

Ranma blushed and turned away.. "I'm sorry for that. It's the same reason talking about feelings and junk like that is easier as a girl. I just can't have certain people thinking I'm a pansy, you know?" Akane was struck by this statement. Ranma may not have meant to but she'd just given up something important and Akane started to understand the situation better.

"How is it easier, Ranma?" she asked. Ranma still didn't look at Akane and seemed to be trying to avoid the conversation. But the desire to work things out caused Ranma to continue on.

"Well, that whole training journey was a huge thing, you know?" Ranma began. "Since it's been my life for about seven years, it kind of shaped my personality."

"Wait, I thought you'd been on that training journey for ten years." Akane interrupted. "Didn't you say it was since you were six years – old?"

"Yeah, but I think pop tried to keep me in the dark about Jusenkyou until the last minute by sending me to Japan for junior high." Ranma explained. Akane caught a sudden glimpse of pain on Ranma's face and found her earlier anger had melted away. She was going to ask which school that had been but decided against it. Ranma needed a shoulder not a pesky news reporter.

'Thank kami – sama!' she thought. 'Ranma really needs to air out his feelings and seems like he's going to do so!'

"I... I kept this for so long." Ranma stuttered, grabbing her knees. Ranma looked at Akane and found she wasn't angry anymore but merely listening with intent. What was it that was occurring? Ranma had never felt right about saying any of this to anyone and it surprised her. She continued on, finding she had a kind audience. "I kept this next thing I'm gonna say in for so long, so don't go sharing it Akane. It's embarrassing!" Akane nodded. "I've... never known my mom." Akane gasped. While she had faint glimpses of her mother, Kirara Tendo, she still had something to hold on to. Ranma, on the other hand, had nothing. "Being away from her my whole life, I always got jealous of the other kids in junior – high. Plus I was away from pop and even though we show our family ties," Akane noticed Ranma had avoided saying the word love, "in a different way, I still missed being with him. Junior – high was hell!" Ranma finished. 'In more ways than one!' she thought to herself. The two girls sat there for a moment; Ranma had really opened up and Akane was happy that she had. But the question she really wanted answered still hadn't been.

"Ok, but what about my question? How is this easier than being a guy?" Akane was sure she was starting to understand but Ranma had to do this on her own. Otherwise, she'd never grow.

"Well, that trip of ours had pop telling me to be a guy in every way. 'Be a man amongst men!' he'd yell at me all the time. And anytime that occurred, he'd just continue training me harder and harder." Ranma had actually started tearing up and Akane had her answer. Uncle Saotome was definitely a nutjob but he'd shown his love for family and the Tendos in the two days they'd been present. Why had he pressed Ranma like this?

"Ranma, can I tell you something?" Akane asked, hoping that this was going to help. Ranma nodded as she tried to hide her tears. "First off, doing all this in a girl's body isn't going to help anyone think you're not a pansy." Ranma's eyes went wide and she turned her head. Akane then did something that made both girls feel scared but comforted all at the same time: Akane placed a hand on Ranma's cheek and turned Ranma's face towards her. Smiling a mother like smile that Kasumi would have been proud of, Akane continued on. "Secondly, you are a man. No matter what anyone says, your display today with Kuno was definitely manly." Ranma studied Akane's face and realized that she wasn't just trying to butter Ranma up. This was as true a confession as Ranma's earlier one about her mother. The two of them sat there staring at each other, furthering the like they had for each other just a little bit more.

The two teenagers suddenly realized how close they were to each other and embarrassed, they turned away. Ranma couldn't help but feel the need to never call Akane uncute again; her long black hair adorned her face just perfectly and she was definitely a cute girl. Akane only wished that Ranma were a boy right now and the fact that he could change sexes still scared a part of her. After a great moment of silence, Ranma finally coughed. "Well," she said, "uh, thanks... I guess."

"You're welcome." Akane answered.

"Also, uh... thanks for the hot water after the pool accident." Ranma thanked again.

"You're welcome, again." Akane was sure this was not the same boy from the bathroom and wished that it would be easier going forward. But if she knew her own ego, then she definitely knew Ranma wouldn't change over night. After the moment they'd just shared, though, she thought she was finally ready to give Ranma a chance. And now that she knew somewhat where Ranma's insults were stemming from, maybe she could stop getting so angry.

"Akane, can I ask you for some help on something?" Ranma asked, pulling Akane out of her thoughts. She faced Ranma with curiosity.

"Sure, what do you need?" she asked. Despite Akane's worries, it looked like maybe Ranma would change a little quicker than she'd imagined.

"Well..." Ranma began but they were interrupted by knocking on Akane's door.

"Hey Akane!" Nabiki's voice rang out from behind the door. "Have you seen Ranma? I wanted to talk to the both of you!" Akane's face went red and Ranma wondered why before realizing herself just how this would look if someone found the two of them on Akane's bed... especially since Ranma was still a girl!

"Ranma," Akane whispered, "can you get out of here?" Ranma nodded and took a leap from the bed.

"Just let her come in!" she whispered as she clung to the ceiling. Akane really admired the skill Ranma had but took no more time so as to not make Nabiki suspicious.

"What's up, Nabiki?" Akane asked happily as she opened the door. Nabiki raised an eyebrow; Akane was up to something but decided not to ask.

"Can you let me in?" Nabiki asked.

"Oh sure!" Akane laughed and opened the door wider. Meanwhile, Ranma had climbed her way across the ceiling to the door. As soon as Akane saw that Ranma was ready, she opened the door wide enough and watched out of the corner of her eye as Ranma scrambled silently out of the room. Sighing with relief inwardly, Akane closed the door and watched as Nabiki sat on her bed. "So what's up?"

"I saw that fight with Kuno today in the courtyard before school and I was wondering what happened." Nabiki answered. Something about her inflection told Akane there was something more to this.

"What do you mean what happened, Nabiki? If you saw the whole thing, then why are you asking me?" Akane watched as Nabiki smiled her "I know" smile and she gulped.

"Well, usually you just clobber Kuno and it's over. I didn't think that adding Ranma into the equation would change much." Nabiki folded her hands and rested her chin on them. "Something happened that caused Kuno to change his attitude." No matter how many times she did this, Akane was always surprised at just how intuitive Nabiki really was.

"Well for starters, that stupid speech of his was being violated." Akane answered.

"Oh?" Nabiki asked. "How so?" She'd known that Ranma and Akane were actually starting to like each other. But she hadn't heard or seen everything and her curiosity had won out.

"Well," Akane hung her head to the side, "Ranma sort of let out of the box that... that we're... engaged." Nabiki snapped her fingers; that would definitely explain Kuno's change.

"I see. Well then, looks like Ranma's got himself a bit of a problem now, doesn't it?" Nabiki beamed. She had been hoping there was a chance for a business venture and it had indeed shown up. Suddenly, another knock came at the door.

"Hey Akane, can I come in? I wanna talk." Ranma's voice came from the other side. He'd obviously gone and grabbed some hot water. Akane went and let him in.

"Ranma, how'd you get hot water? I thought the water wasn't working?" Akane asked.

"Apparently, Kasumi had saved some from her dish washing and forgot to tell pop before he and Mr. Tendo went out to the public baths." Ranma explained with a chuckle. He suddenly noticed the other presence in the room. "Oh, hello Nabiki!" Ranma greeted with a smile that almost said he'd known Nabiki would be there. She didn't worry about it too much, something better was coming.

"Hey there Ranma, just the man I wanted to see!" she smiled.

"Huh?" Ranma replied confused.

"Well, I saw your fight today with Kuno and Akane here tells me you guys have accepted your engagement." Nabiki watched as Ranma's eyes went wide.

"Hey, don't go announcing that!" Ranma yelled.

"Don't worry! Like I said to Akane earlier, your secret is as safe as your curse is safe against Kuno's brain." Nabiki beamed again. Ranma studied Nabiki's face and demeanor and realized that she was telling the truth.

"Ok, what about the fight then?" Ranma huffed and took a seat on the bed. Akane set herself down at her vanity chair and watched Nabiki intently.

"Well, I just thought that maybe I could help you two fend off Kuno." Nabiki answered. Akane realized what was about to occur and she sighed. "For a fee, of course."

"A fee?!" Ranma spouted. "Wait a minute, why do I gotta pay? Besides, what if your scheme doesn't work?"

"Oh trust me, it'll work!" Nabiki smiled. 'For me at least.'

"Well, if you're gonna help us," Ranma started to explain, "you might want to hear the whole story."

"There's more?" Nabiki asked. Now it was her turn to listen.

"Akane and me were out in the hall for being late to class when Kuno showed up." Ranma started. Nabiki nodded her head and realized that's where Kuno had disappeared off to after his outburst in class. "He wanted to fight but the hallways were too cramped. I led him to a window so we could leap outside. What I wasn't expecting was the swimming pool below us."

"There's always water around you, isn't there Ranma?" Nabiki teased. Ranma rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, Kuno and I got out of the pool," Ranma made sure to skip the embarrassing part of being a girl at the time, "and while I made a kick jump off of Kuno's face to leave, he just lay there. Later on, Akane came with a kettle to give to me but after throwing it up to me in the tree I'd been sitting in, along came Kuno again. I didn't want to have Akane fighting him so instead of changing back, I jumped down to fight him instead. Meanwhile, 'Shakespeare the idiot'," Nabiki laughed at Ranma's insult, "had gotten it into his brain that I was somehow my own sister, being that I had changed into a girl twice right in front of him. So I tried to show him that I was a guy and poured the kettle water onto my head. His response," Ranma started to get angry and clenched a fist, "at seeing me change back to guy form was to say that he admired my 'skill' in the black arts but that he'd rather continue our fight fairly!" Ranma's anger seethed and he punched into Akane's bed. The two women looked at each other and Nabiki realized from Akane's face that maybe she ought to wave the fee away just this once.

"I see." Nabiki responded and started thinking.

"My secret may be safe because of Kuno's idiocy but I can't stand the idea of being purported as a cheater!" Ranma declared. Nabiki nodded. Kuno's head was thick and this was clearly playing on Ranma's ego. If she wanted to help Akane and him with their relationship, they'd definitely have to find a way through to Kuno's brain. 'You two are causing me to lose my business touch.' she thought. 'No fair.'

"Well, what do you think, Nabiki?" Akane asked. Nabiki looked back to Ranma.

"First off, we're going to have to find a way to get through Kuno's thick skull." Nabiki began. Ranma scoffed.

"Yeah, **that's** a possibility." he stated sarcastically.

"Ranma, I've known Kuno for a while now and let me tell you," Nabiki explained, "he may look and act like an idiot, but that skull of his definitely was holes in it. You just gotta find them with a magnifying glass because they're so small." Ranma looked at Nabiki and relented. "Ok. The other thing about this is, you and Akane are going to have to do something you may not like." Akane and Ranma stared at Nabiki with fear. "Well, you may like it," Nabiki confessed with a sly grin, "but you may not like what the school thinks of it." Both Akane and Ranma went white as they realized what Nabiki meant. Ranma looked at Akane; were they ready for anything like that yet? He still wasn't comfortable talking about it as a guy yet! "Don't worry, you two!" Nabiki brought their attention back to her. "If things go correctly, then you won't be embarrassed for long." Akane and Ranma looked back at each other. For their sakes, they could only pray that Nabiki was right.

* * *

The next day, Ranma and Akane made their way to school. Ranma kept mulling the plan over and over in his head. 'This'll never work.' he thought, running along his fence. 'Never, never, never.' Akane looked up to him and smiled. Ranma tried to smile back but it betrayed his mood. Akane sighed and tried to console him.

"Don't worry, Ranma. Nabiki is good at this kind of stuff." Akane assured him. Her smile was the only thing that stopped Ranma from trying to abandon the plan. As they approached the school gates, the throng of student athletes came into view and Ranma shook his head.

'I'm sorry about this.' Ranma silently apologized to the guys in front of him. As they got to the gates, Akane leapt up to the stone gate and watched as the throng in front of her stood there unsure of themselves. Wasn't she going to fight her way through them today like always? A tennis player in particular decided to continue on.

"It's your serve, Akane, and the game is love!" he yelled. Tossing up a tennis ball, he went to strike it towards Akane with his racquet. Instead, he felt as something grabbed his collar, lifted him up, and threw him to the ground.

"AKANE IS MY FIANCE, GOT IT?!" yelled a fearsome voice. The entire crowd turned to see Ranma Saotome throw the tennis player aside right as the ball landed on the fallen athlete's face. "Who's next?" A few blinked as they were dumbfounded by this turn of events. Then, as the truth of the gossip they'd heard at school yesterday came to their minds, the guys realized what was going on.

"It's the hundred meter dash of the heart," a track runner called out as he ran to take out Ranma, "and I will outrun you, Saotome!" Ranma laughed and merely stuck a foot out to trip him. For the next three minutes, Akane watched as Ranma took out each and every guy there. For once, she found herself without the need to say her famous phrase.

'Well,' she thought to herself, 'I still hate boys but Ranma **isn't** a boy!' Smiling, she continued watching as Ranma effortlessly eliminated the crowd. Just like yesterday, the lone survivor (this time being Ranma) stood amongst the "dead". He tossed his pigtail behind him, as it had landed on his shoulder, and scoffed.

"Such idiots." he regarded. Akane jumped off the fence and went to Ranma.

"You ready for part two?" she asked fearfully. Ranma gulped.

"Not really." he admitted. But they had to do this to stop these crazy mornings. Akane steeled herself and grabbed onto Ranma's arm. Slowly, they walked inside the school.

Meanwhile, Nabiki had done her part as she'd manage to cause a small crowd to accumulate at her window from yesterday. They'd all heard and seen Ranma do his thing and it had worked.

"Did Ranma really just defend Akane?"

"Oh, it's so romantic! Like a knight in shining armor!"

"I guess they really do wanna get married! I mean, she did just hold onto him like that."

"Betchya Kuno isn't gonna like this! Where is he anyway? Doesn't he usually fight Akane in the mornings as well?"

Nabiki smiled at the conversation around her. It was time for part three of her plan and she headed off for class. As she did so, Kuno stood at his vantage point on top of the highest spot of the school. "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?" Kuno quoted loudly. He clenched a fist and closed his eyes. "And if you wrong us, SHALL WE NOT REVENGE?!" Kuno yelled across the courtyard below him. "Saotome, you are a crafty devil. And yet, you seek not fairness. As much as I may desire our conclusion, I cannot allow but for an even battle ground. For if I do not, I fall pray to my family's wayward ways." He dropped his fist and head. Lifting it again, tears of pride fell from his eyes. "Akane Tendo!" he yelled out again. "I shall free you someday from the clutches of this madman. And then! Then you will see the fruit of a noble and honest man!" Hearing the bell ring for the five minute warning, he headed to class.

Arriving there, he saw that Nabiki Tendo had seemed to await his arrival. Her reaction to his entering the classroom seemed more than enthusiastic. "Why Nabiki," he declared as he took his seat, "me thinks you are eager for my presence. But alas, I cannot trifle with your heart for I already belong to your sister and another."

"Another?" Nabiki asked incredulously.

"Yes." Kuno responded. "Her hair as fiery as her spirit, her loyalty fierce! She be but a robust beauty such as that of the dandelion. Ah, pigtailed girl!" Nabiki chuckled as she realized he was talking about Ranma's girl half.

"I see. It's funny you should mention her." Nabiki laid her trap and knew it was sprung before Kuno ever stepped into it.

"Trifle not with me, Nabiki." Kuno snorted.

"Moi?" Nabiki asked innocently.

"Am I not 'Blue Thunder' ?!" Kuno ranted, stabbing a pencil into his desk.

'This should be good.' Nabiki thought to herself. Kuno continued.

"The rising new star of Furinkan High – School?"

"Sure, sure." Nabiki agreed with a tease. "But I'm sure the 'pigtailed girl' doesn't know that." Nabiki reached into her bag and pulled out a note. "Otherwise, I'm sure she would have brought this straight to you instead of using me as a middle ground."

Kuno stared at the note in Nabiki Tendo's hand. The folded piece of paper was addressed to him! "A note from my beloved? Give it here!" he demanded. Nabiki complied and handed it over.

"My poor sister, getting tossed aside so quickly!" Nabiki pretended to be distraught.

"I said I loved them both, is that a crime?" Kuno asked with anger.

"No! Not at all, Kuno baby!" Nabiki answered. "It's just what people call 'two – timing' !"

Kuno stared back at the folded note. 'So that's what they call it!' he thought. However, he felt no guilt and Nabiki knew he wasn't one to give up any woman he set his sights on.

Quickly, he unfolded the note and read. Finishing, he looked back at Nabiki. "This is truly from the pigtailed girl?" he asked. Nabiki nodded. Clenching the note in a fist, Kuno began to cry again. "Oh you are too noble for the world, pigtailed girl!"

* * *

After school, Ranma and Akane waited in the field next to the same tree they'd dealt with Kuno the previous day. Akane stared at Ranma; Ranma had her fists to her side and seemed annoyed. Ranma had been dealing with congrats and jealous statements all day due to their display that morning. Akane whispered silent apologies and hoped someday he'd be ready to show affection like that in public without this reaction. Ranma, on the other hand, was merely putting on a show due to his ego. He had wanted to place his hand on Akane's cheek yesterday and found he did truly want to show affection. But the outside world made that impossible; they'd only tease him mercilessly if they found out he wasn't as manly as he'd put on.

"Where is that dolt? He's late!" Ranma fumed. "Nabiki better not have been pulling our legs!"

"She didn't, trust me!" Akane encouraged Ranma. Looking back, Akane's face displayed honesty. Ranma took comfort in Akane's words and relaxed a little.

Suddenly, a figure could be seen walking towards them. The sunset beginning, the figure slowly appeared behind the light of the sky. Finally, the figure turned into Kuno and he approached the two girls.

"For it so falls out," he began to quote, "that what we have we prize not to the worth, whiles we enjoy it. But being lack'd and lost, why, then we rack the value; then we find the virtue that possession would not show us whiles it was ours."

'Oh for crying out loud, Kuno!' Ranma thought, placing her head in her hand.

"It is now exactly 5:36 PM, the moment when the sunset is at its most beautiful." Kuno declared. Looking back towards Ranma, he realized Akane's presence. "Why Akane, have you come to declare your love like this maiden before me?"

Akane started to fume herself. 'Get a hold of yourself or you'll ruin everything!' she lectured herself. However, she needn't worry as Nabiki came out from behind the tree.

"Hey, Kuno baby!" Nabiki greeted with a peace sign.

"Nabiki Tendo?!" he cried out. Something began to ring warning bells in his mind, but it was too late.

"Alright now, we're all here." Nabiki announced.

"Here for what?" Kuno asked indignantly. He began to wish he'd brought his boken. "I was expecting a love confession from the pigtailed girl, not an intervention!" Ranma had had enough of Kuno's pretensions.

"Well, you need an intervention, Shakespeare!" Ranma yelled.

"Ranma, you need to calm down. This won't work otherwise!" Akane reminded him.

"Ranma!" Kuno replied. "He's here? Where?"

"Right in front of you, Kuno baby!" Nabiki answered, pointing to Ranma. Kuno stared at the red haired maiden before him.

"I know you are his sister, dear pigtailed girl, but you share his name?" Kuno whimpered. Such a tragedy already to be a part of Ranma's plots, now he learned of their shared names!

Ranma couldn't stand it any longer. "Just get on with it, Nabiki!" she yelled. Nabiki smiled but obliged the request.

"Alright Kuno, please take no offense when I say this but..." Nabiki paused briefly, "you are a thick headed idiot when it comes to the truth." Kuno merely stood there and took in the words. A few seconds later, the meaning obviously getting through, Kuno grimaced. "But I love my sister and family affairs are but a matter for family to resolve." She stepped over to the tree and picked up two items, a bucket of cold water and a kettle of hot water. Holding onto both, Nabiki walked over to Kuno and handed him the kettle.

"And what am I to do with this, Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno asked.

"Dump it on the pigtailed girl!" Nabiki responded.

"What?!" Kuno was aghast at such an act. "I would never dream of..."

"Kuno!" Ranma interrupted. "I am not a practitioner of the black arts and you insulted me yesterday by stating so!" Kuno, surprised at seeing such fire in the pigtailed girl's demeanor, stared at her. Had she just mentioned a conversation he'd had with her brother? They were indeed fiercely loyal to each other! Ranma continued. "I have a curse on me, thanks to the stupid training grounds in China my dad dragged me to!" Kuno slowly took in her words and found he could only nod in reaction. "But you don't seem to get it! So, dump that water on my head and see for yourself that I am not pulling off some black magic bullshit, I'm just cursed! Because obviously, me doing it myself doesn't get through to you!"

Kuno just stood there, jaw dropped and confused. He took a look at the kettle he'd been handed, then at the smiling Nabiki, then back to the fuming red head. The words themselves had taken root in his head but he was uncertain what to do. He stared back at the kettle. Finally, Akane broke the silence.

"Kuno, just do it already!" she demanded.

"Alright." Kuno agreed. He slowly stepped forth to the pigtailed one and gulped. "I apologize, fair one." Ranma gritted her teeth, knowing that hopefully soon, Kuno would stop calling her that. The water slowly poured forth from the kettle and Ranma felt both the warmth cover her head and the changes begin. Kuno watched as the red head before him morphed into that of his rival, Ranma Saotome, the black hair and face unmistakable. Kuno stepped back and dropped the kettle. He could only stare at the man standing before him.

"Do you get it now?" Ranma asked. Kuno, for the first time in his life, had no fancy words or harebrained explanations to fall back on. He himself had poured the hot water! Nabiki was wily and tricky but not a liar, her reputation as a business woman had taught Kuno that. So she definitely could not have been in on any of Ranma's "plans". There was no black magic to be had and he couldn't deny it any longer. The truth stared him right in the eyes and as Nabiki had said, they just had to find the hole in his skull.

"You... you... are..." Kuno stammered, pointing at Ranma. The idea just didn't fit into Kuno's world. "You are... her?!" he finally managed.

"If you still don't have enough proof, that's what this is for!" Nabiki smiled. While the air around them still stung with the seriousness of the situation, Nabiki was enjoying Kuno's reactions. She held up the bucket in her hand for Kuno.

"More water?" he asked, unsure what to do. As much as he hated the change and the fact that water had become a nuisance in his life, Ranma knew that they were already in deep and they had to finish. How else could he prove his honor?

"Just throw the cold water at me already, would 'ya?!" Ranma demanded. Kuno stared back at Ranma and saw the look of disgust on his face. Suddenly, the rusted wheels in his head turned a click and he realized what was about to happen. He took the bucket from Nabiki's hand and tossed the water onto Ranma. A second later, an annoyed red head sputtered in Ranma's place.

"Ranma Saotome is now a... girl?!" Kuno stammered. "You are truly... cursed?!" Ranma merely nodded her head and fumed. This was her favorite shirt and hated getting it so wet. But it was necessary and she gritted her teeth. Suddenly, she realized that Kuno had bowed before her.

"Huh?" Ranma was unsure of what was going on.

"Ranma Saotome." Kuno began from his bow. "I apologize for my behavior towards you. It is no small feat to swallow one's pride for the sake of reclaiming your honor. Yet here you are, in form which you must despise, doing just that. For that and your skill as a martial artist, you have my respect." None of the three girls there had expected this and stood confounded.

"I... uh... thanks? I guess?" Ranma accepted with confusion. This was definitely not the same Kuno from yesterday.

But like an unwelcome stranger, **that** Kuno returned as he stood from his bow. "However," he continued, "this does not mean we are even. Akane Tendo's hand must be won, not handed over on a silver platter!" Nabiki had expected this and went to grab the third item she'd brought to the scene. "My terms still stand and tomorrow, we shall finish out our fight from yesterday!" he bellowed. "For as I said, I desire a fair fight and I currently do not possess..." as he lifted a hand to point at Ranma, an object came flying at him. He grabbed said object and realized it was. "... my boken?" he finished. Ranma smiled; leave it to Nabiki to really devise a plan. Ranma would never doubt her again. Grabbing the dropped kettle, she returned herself to her normal form.

"You were saying, Kuno?" Ranma teased and took up a stance. Kuno smiled and faced his opponent. Without delay, Kuno picked up where Ranma and he had left off, swinging his boken at the man before him.

"You will not defeat me today, Ranma Saotome!" he yelled with another swing. Akane watched as Ranma deftly dodged the attacks. Having seen his speed first hand, she was not as worried. That was until Ranma accidentally tripped over the kettle and Kuno got a good hit in.

"Ranma!" she yelled and held a hand out. Kuno looked her way, looking heartbroken.

"I saw this morning's display but believed not what my eyes had seen." Kuno stated. "But your simple cry for this whelp is a slap to the face. Do you really love this insolent one, Akane?"

"I..." Akane began, unsure if she could even speak the words. She didn't have to as Ranma spoke up for her.

"Yeah, she does!" he answered. "So give it up already, Kuno!" He landed a kick to Kuno's shoulder and Kuno stumbled backwards a few steps.

"Never!" Kuno declared. "I shall win her hand!" He swung his boken up into the air. "And you, defiant one, shall address me as senpai!"

As they continued their fight, Akane couldn't help but beam at Ranma as she went to lean on the tree. He'd just said something about his emotions in public and as a guy! 'I knew you had it in you!' Akane smiled and continued watching. Nabiki smiled as well as she saw Akane's emotions.

'You're welcome, sis!' she thought.

Both their musings were broken by Kuno's voice. "AT LAST THE GAME ENDS!" he bellowed and with that began striking furiously at Ranma, the speed of his boken making it seem as if there were several bokens striking at once. Akane began to worry again.

"Ranma!" she called out. "When Kuno gets this serious, he's really hard to..." she stopped as she saw Ranma keeping up his dodging at the same speed as Kuno's boken. Ranma's skill as a martial artist continued to astound her. She definitely had to get Ranma to take her seriously in morning practices.

A cracking noise caught her attention and Akane looked beside her. The tree had begun to crack as if someone were striking it. Bark splintered and shot everywhere as Akane rolled to dodge it.

"Wow!" Nabiki exclaimed. "By just the air pressure alone!"

Ranma looked back to see the noise himself when he realized Kuno was pushing him back straight into where Akane had rolled to. "Hey Akane, look out!" he called to her.

"I have you!" Kuno announced triumphantly, raising his boken to strike.

"Eyes front, Ranma!" Akane called out. She watched as Ranma turned his head around and moved his leg up from the ground towards Kuno's face. Then, as if nothing had occurred to him, Ranma jumped backwards to stand confidently. Akane had no clue what had just happened nor why Ranma had stopped fighting.

"Uh, Ranma?" Nabiki asked in wonder.

"It's all over, Kuno!" Ranma announced. The sisters looked over to Kuno and didn't understand. He seemed just fine.

Lowering his boken, Kuno glared at Ranma. "You will address me as sen.. pa..." Kuno never finished his declaration as he suddenly fell over with a sigh. The sisters looked at each other and slowly walked over to Kuno's fainted form. Akane was in shock and couldn't figure it out.

"So how'd you do that, Ranma?" Nabiki asked. Ranma merely smiled as Akane went to flip Kuno over so they could see his front. When she did so, the answer became highly apparent.

"Wow!" Akane marveled. There were marks where Ranma had clearly kicked Kuno. "Each blow hit a vulnerable spot!" Once again, Ranma's speed was amazing to Akane.

"You mean you kicked him?" Nabiki mused. "I didn't even see your foot move!" Akane stood up from their inspection and beamed.

"That's my Ranma!" she announced. Ranma suddenly felt foolish and blushed. Realizing what she'd just said, Akane blushed herself and placed her hands together uncertainly. Nabiki stood up and faced the couple before her.

"You guys are so cute!" she teased. The two of them blushed further and turned away from Nabiki. Nabiki smiled. "Like I said, I won't say anything until you guys are ready." Akane looked at her sister. Nabiki beamed back at Akane and Akane gained some calm back.

Ranma changed the subjects quickly. "I thought that **senpai** here would put up more of a fight." Akane beamed inwardly.

'One step at a time, I suppose!' she thought with glee.

"What do you mean, Ranma?" Nabiki countered. "Didn't you take a blow too?"

"It's nothing." Ranma answered confidently. He placed his hands behind his head. Akane stepped closer to him.

"You mean this over here doesn't hurt?" Akane asked and touched his left side where Kuno had struck Ranma when he'd tripped. Ranma's confident manner quickly changed to that of agony as Akane's prodding caused his side to vibrate with pain. He grimaced and groaned, grabbing at his side. "So it was nothing, huh?" Akane asked. Ranma didn't have to be so macho but had continued to do so.

"Look, it hurts, ok?" Ranma answered. "You happy now?" Akane's anger finally came back to her and she picked up Kuno's boken.

"I said you were a guy, why are you still acting like this?" she yelled and began to chase Ranma, swinging the boken at him. She chased him in a circle around Nabiki as the latter watched the two of them. Her plan had worked and she'd gained something without it having been a financial reward. But the two of them were still figuring out their relationship and Nabiki sighed, knowing it wasn't going to be that easy.

"One step at a time, I suppose." she declared smiling. Whipping out her camera she always kept with her, she went to take a picture of the "happy couple". "And now to preserve this for posterity!" she announced. She pressed the button and a click sounded as she captured forever the image of Akane smashing the boken into Ranma's face.

* * *

End Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	7. My Dear Sweet Betty

**Chapter 7**

**My Dear Sweet Betty**

Akane sat in her room contemplating the past Friday. Between the arrival of Ranma and last Friday, Akane's world had been more than flipped upside down. The world Akane had known had been tossed into the air and landed where no one could have even predicted it would have landed. Physics did that though, and apparently so did life. 'I am still young though,' she thought sagely, 'I suppose it's to be expected.' She turned to look at the photo Nabiki had given her. It showed a boy in Chinese styled clothes being smacked in the face with a boken by one Akane Tendo. Akane had felt absolutely saddened every time she looked at the photo and regretted having done that to Ranma. But he had just been overly cocky and she thought it was over. 'No, I already realized it was going to be one step at a time.' Akane reminded herself for about the twelfth time. She sighed and slumped her head into her hand; she knew why they were going so slow at the game but still felt like they should be okay by now. These conflicting emotions were driving her nuts and she buried her head on the vanity.

Downstairs, Ranma sat down with some tea and a snack. He grabbed some chips to eat but found that rather than being hungry, we was only looking to distract himself from the issue. Not caring, he dropped the chips and drank some tea. 'Oh man, why does she have to over react like that?' he pondered. 'I've only known her for six days, how can she expect me to change so quickly.' Reflecting on those words, he realized a point of humor in his assessment. He could change into a girl quickly, why not his emotions? "Ahhh!" he cried out, grabbing the chip bag and threw it against the wall in front of him. "This is ridiculous. Maybe we aren't ready!" As he had drawn his arm back to throw, a few chips had fallen behind him. A shadow had appeared behind the living room wall, though Ranma had not seen it and a foot came around the entrance into the living room to pick up one of those chips.

Genma slowly withdrew his foot and brought it up so he could take the chip to his hand. Eating the chip, he listened as his son continued his rant. "I was just honest about how I felt. It wasn't too painful until she touched my side!" Ranma yelled. Even though he said this, he knew the truth was he'd been trying to hide his feelings again. But hadn't Akane and him figured out how to get past that? He slowly got up and sighed. "Maybe a walk will help me work this out." Genma, realizing he was about to be found out, stood prostrate against the wall. Ranma walked right past him and grumbled as he turned the corner. Sighing a bit, Genma felt relieved. Then he smiled at his triumph.

"Fade into the wood work, that's the trick." Genma complimented himself. He pushed his glasses up a little and turned around towards the living room. Patting himself on the shoulder, he hadn't noticed Ranma had come back and was standing behind him.

"Don't you got nothing better to do, pop?!" Ranma bellowed and threw his father into the koi pond. Grumbling further, Ranma walked back towards the front door to walk off his frustrations. Genma the panda sat up in the pond and thought about Ranma's behavior from the past couple of days. His son had seemed conflicted on the matter at first, but now Ranma was just fuming as if things weren't working out. As if Akane and him were... Genma the panda gasped and realized the truth.

Just then, Akane came down from her room and noticed Panda Genma sitting in the pond. "Uncle Saotome," she blurted, "don't tell me you wanted to be a panda!" The panda smiled and stood up from the koi pond. Akane stared at the animal before her and raised an eyebrow. "No, I know that can't be it. You and Ranma were fighting again, huh?" she asked. Panda Genma merely smiled again and skipped off as if something was going on that had made him the happiest panda on earth. Akane stood there confused. "What is up with that family?" She shook her head and decided to practice some in the dojo. She was pulling her gi out from the hall when Kasumi came around the corridor corner and smiled.

"Akane, could you please do me a favor?" she asked.

"Sure Kasumi!" Akane agreed. She replaced the gi back in the cupboard and closed its door. "Were you looking for me specifically?"

"Oh no, I just need some things for dinner and you're the first person I ran into." Kasumi answered. "Can you go to the market and bring back some ground pork and white onions?"

"Ok!" Akane replied with a smile. A walk could do her wonders right now; she could think of something other than Ranma. As she exited the house, the sun had just begun to set and the sky was a ablaze with pinks, oranges, and soft yellows. "Wow, what a beautiful sunset! Kuno's 5:36 pm stuff has nothing on today!" With a spin, Akane took off for the market. Meanwhile, a panda and Kasumi peaked around the front door and watched as Akane exited the front gate and disappeared. Turning to each other, they both beamed and laughed softly.

"I do hope this will work, Uncle Saotome!"

* * *

Akane found herself no better off then she had been sitting at her vanity. She just couldn't get her mind off of their problem. She stopped and looked around her; this was the same place that Ranma and her had discussed the fact that they had no right to be picky about relationships. The metal fence separated the main walkway from the creek and to Akane's right, houses stood. She looked up to the fence and thought back to that time.

_"Ow, come on Akane! I was only kidding! Did 'ya have to hit me where 'ya did with the table?!" Ranma had shouted._

_ Akane had lowered her bag, realizing Ranma was right. But she couldn't help but correct him on one thing. "We're both in no position to be picky about significant others!"_

_ They had both stood there for a while mulling Akane's words over in their heads before continuing on their way, both of them embarrassed about their sudden advance in their relationship._

Akane came back to the present and continued her own walking, not at all sure what to do. Ranma was an enigma and having no solution saddened her.

Meanwhile, Ranma felt upset at himself; coming out to walk and forget about his problems hadn't really worked. Instead, all that was on his mind was Akane and her seemingly bipolar attitudes. Why wouldn't she pick an emotion and stay with it? It confused Ranma so much; his reactions were based off of what he thought Akane was doing and he kept on hurting her. Though Ranma still didn't feel comfortable talking about the whole relationship thing, he'd finally been able to stop getting embarrassed to himself by saying that. 'See Akane, I've made progress.' he thought wistfully. He sighed and thought back to Friday.

"_I thought that __**senpai**__ here would put up more of a fight." Ranma had commented about Kuno._

_ "What do you mean, Ranma?" Nabiki had countered. "Didn't you take a blow too?"_

_ "It's nothing." Ranma had answered confidently. He had placed his hands behind his head and had hoped to avoid it. While it did hurt, he hadn't want Akane to be worried about him. To his displeasure, however, Akane had stepped closer to him and analyzed his left side._

_ "You mean this over here doesn't hurt?" Akane had asked and touched his left side where Kuno had struck Ranma when he'd tripped. Ranma had grimaced and groaned, grabbing at his side as it had vibrated with pain. "So it was nothing, huh?" Akane had asked._

_ "Look, it hurts, ok?" Ranma had answered. "You happy now?" He had watched as Akane's anger finally came back to her and she had picked up Kuno's boken._

_ "I said you were a guy, why are you still acting like this?" she had yelled._

Ranma sighed and came back to the present. 'But we really haven't progressed, have we?' he thought with a frown. He continued walking along the fence and put his hands in his pockets. A few seconds later, he saw the figure of someone walking down the pathway out of the corner of his eye. Within a few steps, he realized who it was and fear crept up his spine. Akane heard a gulp and looked up from her glossed over view to see Ranma standing on the fence beside her.

The two of them stood there just staring at each other. Akane wanted to be mad but her heart told her no and instead, a look of sorrow took her facade. Ranma watched this happen and started feeling sad himself. He turned around and knelt down, perching on the fence. He was unable to face the pain he'd caused Akane that was clearly written on her face. Finally, Akane spoke up.

"Uh, hey... Ranma." she managed.

"Hey." Ranma responded but didn't turn around. He didn't need to for Akane to realize that they were both hurting inside. She pushed her anger aside to start the healing she knew they both needed. Ranma turned his head when he heard the sound of something alighting the fence and saw Akane there. Ranma surprised Akane when he spoke up before she could.

"Uh, hey... nice jump there." he complimented her. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all.

"Th... thanks." she accepted with a small smile. It wasn't her best but it was a start and Ranma found himself feeling better about talking to Akane instead of feeling unable to even face her like he had before he'd left the house. Standing up, he turned to Akane.

"You look so much..." he gulped. Ranma knew full well that only where his next words were going to take him to but that he couldn't stop it saying them... even if he wanted to. "...cuter when you smile. Please don't frown." Akane blushed at the even greater compliment and realized that something different was going on. Ranma wasn't a girl now, why was this suddenly easier for him? She took her hands from her mouth and looked into his eyes. Those striking blue eyes were...

"Ra... Ranma? Why are you being so nice suddenly?" Akane asked.

"It's you, Akane." Ranma explained. "When I see emotions of pain or sorrow on your face, I just want to ho... I just want you to stop." Akane caught Ranma's slip and smiled inwardly.

'He wants to hold me?!' a small part of her giggled with glee... a part of her that began growing by the minute. "And why are suddenly so open?" she asked.

"I already said, it's because of you." Ranma answered. "I just don't want to hurt you anymore. I know how I feel embarrassed saying this stuff. I know I'd be scared of what others at school might say hearing me. But I think after seeing you upset about my first fight with Kuno, I slowly started feeling defensive of you. That makes me feel ok saying it to you and to myself... as guy or girl."

"I see." Akane acknowledged. She couldn't understand what was going on. Was she wrong and Ranma had taken more than one step at a time? Akane looked back into his eyes and saw the strength Ranma had. He'd shown that strength plenty of times while fighting; this was the first time she saw it in his heart.

Akane's thoughts were cut short as a cry of attack cut rang out behind them. She turned around as Ranma looked up and both of them sighed with disdain. "RANMA SAOTOME!" Kuno cried out, as both Ranma and Akane watched him running across the fence towards them. "I shall smite thee and then Akane shall be mine!"

"Kuno," Ranma sighed with annoyance, "aren't you still hurting from yesterday?" Still approaching at top speed, Kuno sneered.

"It matters not how many times you kick me, I..." Kuno never finished his sentence as Akane knocked him into the creek beside them. Ranma was shocked and realized maybe he wasn't the only one between the two of them feeling defensive. However, his thoughts were interrupted as a burlap sack came swinging into his view.

* * *

Nabiki stared at her older sister with curiosity. "Kasumi, I thought we were having meat and potatoes tonight? It's 6:30 pm, shouldn't you have started by now?"

"I know," Kasumi beamed, "I sent Akane out to get the other ingredients but Uncle Saotome and I had a plan that's more important than my originally planned dinner. Ranma and her will be back soon enough." Nabiki looked at Kasumi and soon realized that her sister knew about Akane and Ranma becoming closer. She smiled back at Kasumi.

"Well then," she asked, "what **are** we having for dinner?"

"There are some leftovers in the fridge." Kasumi answered. "I would have made something else but I need to go return this book back to Dr. Tofu." Nabiki's smile slumped and sat down.

'Well, I guess it **is** for Ranma and Akane's sake.'

* * *

Dr. Tofu looked at the injured teenager before him laid out on one of his patient beds. He'd been used to seeing many sorts of injuries throughout his career and wasn't too perplexed about the strange way Ranma's head had been twisted. But there was something else about this injury that seemed... familiar.

"This is dreadful!" Dr. Tofu commented, surveying Ranma's neck. "This is a very large dislocation of a joint." Akane hung her head, ashamed. "Poor kid." Dr. Tofu looked back to Akane. "Who did this to him?"

"Oh, I uh..." Ranma began.

"I did." Akane admitted sheepishly. Ranma stared in disbelief and Dr. Tofu kept his serious gaze.

'Why did she just admit that?' Ranma wondered. 'It was just an accident and I know she doesn't want a reputation of being violent.'

"You did this, Akane?" Dr. Tofu asked, his gaze piercing Akane's heart. She fidgeted nervously.

"It was an... an accident." she defended herself, hoping desperately that Dr. Tofu would stop staring at her so intently.

The doctor slapped his knee and suddenly smiled. "Ah – ha!" he announced. "I knew it! I knew that damage looked kind of unique!" Ranma went wide eyed as he realized he'd forgotten Akane already had a reputation for violence. He started to feel sorry for her as Dr. Tofu continued laughing.

'Just stop yucking it up, would 'ya?' Ranma gritted his teeth. 'Can't you see Akane's embarrassed?' Akane turned to look at Ranma and saw he was glaring daggers into Dr. Tofu's back.

'No Ranma, don't get angry. It's not your fault.' Akane sighed inwardly. She became acutely aware of the feelings Ranma had just described earlier about seeing negative emotions on her face.

"Well, up 'ya go!" Dr. Tofu stated with a smile as he propped Ranma up. "See the way this joint in your neck is twisted? That's Akane's touch, alright!" With that, Dr. Tofu cracked Ranma's head back into place.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !" Ranma screamed as the pain of his joints being moved speared through his neck.

"Dr. Tofu, I..." Akane trailed off as Ranma sat gasping for breath. 'Old habits die hard, I guess. But I really shouldn't try and get Dr. Tofu to like me any more.' she thought to herself. 'I mean I am more interested in...' Akane couldn't even finish her words when talking to herself and she fidgeted.

"That hurt, you know!" Ranma bellowed at Dr. Tofu. He growled at the doctor as he'd had enough of what he the man was doing to Akane's emotions. Ranma had seen the fondness Akane had shown towards the doctor already. His jealousy combined with his anger had pushed Ranma over the edge.

"Really?" Dr. Tofu examined Ranma's neck again. "That's funny, where does it hurt?"

"It..." Ranma trailed off as he realized that the pain he'd felt just seconds earlier was absolutely gone. It hadn't slowly ebbed away, it was just gone. "Well hey, I'm cured!" Ranma sputtered, amazed at the doctor's skill.

"Dr. Tofu is the best!" Akane beamed. Ranma remembered his anger and turned to face the doctor.

"Listen you, I..." he began.

"Ranma, can I talk to you?" Akane asked. Ranma skipped a beat and looked back to her.

"Uh, sure." he replied.

Soon, the two of them stood out in the hall. Akane stared back into Ranma's blue eyes; she knew having the idea of how handsome she found Ranma's eyes would force her anger down and it wouldn't have even half as much power.

"Look, I know why you're wanting to do this to him." Akane encouraged Ranma. Ranma skipped another beat and embarrassed that he'd even thought about hurting Dr. Tofu, Ranma lowered his head. "But it's ok, I think I'm finally over him." Ranma looked back up at her, confused.

"How'd that happen so sudden?" he asked and folded his arms together. Akane knew what she was about to do would catch him off guard but knew neither of them cared anymore.

"Because I love those beautiful blue eyes of yours." she answered truthfully. Ranma sputtered and couldn't find the means to talk. He'd been right after all about their progress. Obviously, not even that was enough to ready him for seeing Akane's side of the matter. "It's ok Ranma, I get it now. I promise I won't get mad about your 'needing to be a guy' anymore. We can take this as slow as it needs to go." Akane smiled and continued looking at him. Ranma nodded with a gulp and couldn't find the courage to break their gaze as the comment about eyes had him looking at Akane's eyes. Those beautiful, sultry, brown eyes...

"Besides," Akane explained, bringing Ranma back to reality, "Dr. Tofu really already has someone he's in love with."

"Wh... what?!" Ranma stammered. The distraction from their previous conversation allowed Ranma to recover on the outside, but he knew the fact that Akane and him were moving forward after all stayed in his heart.

"Yes, that's why I've acted so silly around him. I wanted to try so desperately to make him fall in love with me instead that I just pretended it wasn't true." Akane felt so good that this chapter of her life would be over.

"I see, and who is this mystery girl?" Ranma asked. Suddenly, the telephone rung and the teenagers looked towards the noise.

"Akane, could you answer that for me?" Dr. Tofu asked from behind the door. "I'm still washing my hands."

"Ok!" Akane answered. She went over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello, Dr. Tofu's... Oh... Uh – huh... yes, I see... Ok!" Akane replaced the phone, looking at Ranma and smiling. "I could answer that question for you, Ranma, but that was her on the phone. She's on her way here. And trust me, you'll get a kick out of this." Ranma lifted an eyebrow and wondered what Akane meant by that.

"Can't just tell me, can you?" Ranma teased. "Are you sure you're over him?"

"Ranma!" Akane played along. She smiled because she knew this time he wasn't teasing her to get a rise out of her. His smile told her this and she was ok with that. That's what couples do, right?

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Ranma sat tapping his foot against the coffee table in front of him. "You sure she's coming, Akane? It's been pretty long."

"Oh, she'll be here." Akane answered with a grin.

"Who will be here?" Dr. Tofu asked, walking out from cleaning up. Startled, both teenagers looked up to see the doctor smiling at them both. Ranma still couldn't help but admire at the man's ability to sneak up on people.

"Well, it's uh..." Akane fumbled over her words as she tried to make something up so as to not spoil the surprise for either Ranma or Dr. Tofu. She was saved as the front door opened and a voice rang out.

"Hello?" a familiar female voice rang out. "Dr. Tofu, are you here?" Ranma turned his head to see Kasumi Tendo walk into the clinic. "Oh! There you are, doctor!"

Suddenly, Ranma saw Dr. Tofu's eyes glaze over and a goofy grin spread across his face. "Why, hello there Kasumi! Funny that we should meet here of all places!" the doctor jabbered and scrambled over to Kasumi.

"Oh, I guess." Kasumi answered. "I came to bring the book back that I borrowed." She reached into her handbag and brought out the book in question.

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Dr. Tofu announced. "I could have been okay without it."

"But I finished it already and it is yours."

"Ok, let me just put this back." Ranma soon began to realize just how deep Dr. Tofu was in love with Kasumi and started giggling to himself.

"See, I told you?" Akane whispered to him. They both heard a crash and looked to see that Dr. Tofu had run into a door.

"Doctor, that's not your bookcase!" Kasumi told the man.

"Oh, of course not!" he laughed. "It's over here!" Dr. Tofu began walking straight towards the waiting benches.

"Doctor, that's your front window!" Akane announced. He laughed and after finally putting the book away correctly, he walked back over to Kasumi.

"He's got it bad, don't he?" Ranma commented.

"Mm – hmm!" Akane responded. "He's hopeless!"

"Oh my goodness, doctor!" Kasumi gasped. "You have a bunch of lint on your shoulder." She proceeded to wipe some of the lint off. The goofy grin turned into an ear to ear smile and Dr. Tofu turned to look at Kasumi's hand. The smile seemed to express both "Thank you, kami – sama!" and "I'm the luckiest guy in the world!" The doctor jumped into the air and held onto a light fixture hanging from the ceiling.

"You really..." as Dr. Tofu responded to the touch of Kasumi's hand, a buzz could be heard and Dr. Tofu started twitching as he was electrocuted. "...sh... sho... shocked me there, Kasumi! Wah – ha! Yowch!" He dropped from the fixture, somehow having survived the electricity. Dr. Tofu stumbled over to his skeleton and smiled at the inanimate object before him. "My dear sweet Betty! It was so wonderful!" Dr. Tofu yelled with glee. The doctor then proceeded to whip the skeleton off of its hanger, throw it onto his back, and run out of the clinic yelling "Whoopee!" Ranma and Akane did their best to hold in their laughter.

"Akane," Kasumi commented after the doctor left, "that Dr. Tofu is such a character, don't you think?"

"You wouldn't know it," Akane responded, "but he's a different person when you're not around!" Smiling, Akane stood up from the waiting room bench.

"Oh really?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"Gotta go now, it's late enough already!" Akane announced and bounced out of the clinic. "You coming Ranma?"

"Right behind you, Akane!" Ranma called out. Kasumi couldn't help but smile with satisfaction; the two of them were getting along better just as Uncle Saotome had said they had been.

'It's so nice to see them acting nice towards each other.' Kasumi thought to herself. 'And to think they originally acted like they were blind to the truth right in front of them!'

* * *

On the way home, Ranma had decided not to walk on his fence and stood beside Akane instead. They didn't hold hands and Akane didn't hang on his arm but they definitely knew they liked each other. Ranma had to comment on the fact and he addressed Akane.

"I can't believe it's only been six days that we've known each other. We've, uh, progressed so much, don't 'ya think?" Ranma asked. Akane looked up at him.

"Our accepting of the fact that we can't be picky did that, Ranma." Akane told him. "But I don't think we should have been anyway." She thought back to her realization about his eyes.

"Whadaya mean, Akane?"

"Well, don't you remember our conversation on the fence on your first day of school?"

"Well yeah but..."

"I said we couldn't be picky." Akane interrupted. "But I don't think we really needed to worry, blue eyes!" Ranma blushed at the nickname. Akane smiled and Ranma slowly thought about it. It was true, he realized, and smiled as well. Now Ranma was suddenly really glad that it hadn't been somebody else saying "don't be picky" to him. Otherwise, who knew how their story would have turned out?

* * *

End Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	8. Do You Know Where You're Going?

**Chapter 8**

**Do You Know Where You're Going?**

The Tottori Sand Dunes were a strange environment and Shinji Miyamoto liked it just fine that way. After all, though tourists did come through not many Japanese natives really felt like living with so much sand. It was just fine with Shinji though as his hobby of making sand sculptures really prospered from living here. When asked how he could live in the one place in Japan that seemed out of place, he simply smiled. The dunes were his life and the house he'd built there was his home. There hadn't been too much in the way of visitors as of lately but Shinji knew that was because the school year was in full swing. The last week of September was here and he knew just what that meant, it was time to start designing new sculptures for the next tourist season. His was an art of slow time. So when he exited his home and looked out in the distance to see a lone figure trudging through the dunes, Shinji was surprised.

'I guess some people still like to come here.' Shinji supposed. He watched as the figure slowly became more visible and realized that this was no ordinary person. As they came closer, Shinji could make out the details of a strangely shaped pack on the person's back and that they were wearing a cloak of sorts to protect them from the sun. 'Are they really journeying through the dunes?' Shinji thought. 'It's not exactly the greatest of conditions out here unless you're used it.' Shinji decided to offer the poor person a chance to rest and ran out to meet them. However, as Shinji approached the person simply trudged past him as if intent on something else. "Hey!" Shinji called out. "You look like you could use a rest! Why don't you come in to my house and take a load off for a while?"

Without stopping to look back, the enigmatic traveler responded. "I have no time to waste, sir. I have a debt to collect." Shinji stared at the figure as they began to disappear into the distance.

"What kind of debt causes a man to give up the essentials of living?" Shinji wondered aloud. He shook his head and headed back to gather his work supplies. Meanwhile, the cloaked man who he'd spoken with narrowed his eyes and though it could not be seen, a fang toothed grin of malice spread across his face.

"Yes, a debt of honor must be collected and the hell I have seen will be repaid ten fold!"

* * *

"GET BACK HERE!" Nabiki yelled at a red head sprinting in front of her. Nabiki continued her chase with Kasumi following behind her. Ranma, in nothing but her boxers and a towel draped around her shoulders to cover her chest, searched for a way to escape her fate.

"Never!" Ranma called back. "I'm a guy, damn it!" Akane said she wouldn't get mad about his insecurities but he was sure even if she did get angry that Akane could let this one go.

"I said get back here, Ranma!" Nabiki, obviously frustrated, cornered Ranma into the hall. Ranma tried to open the door next to her but couldn't do so in time as she fumbled with the handle. Nabiki caught up to Ranma and smiled slightly deviously.

"Ranma, you can't go running around half naked all day and all your clothes are in the wash." Nabiki explained.

"Yeah? So what? I'm not going to wear no girl's clothes! There's just no way!" Ranma argued.

"Your baths are heating us out of house and home and you are a **guest** here. So you can see why, right?" Nabiki was having too much fun here.

"Uh, yeah..." Ranma gulped as she couldn't argue with the logic.

"Ok then, so you'll cooperate then?" Nabiki asked.

"Okay." Ranma agreed in defeat and hung her head in shame. A few minutes later, Nabiki and Kasumi sat looking through Akane's clothes to find something for Ranma to wear. Meanwhile, Akane and Ranma sat on the former's bed looking very sullen. They'd just gotten better in their relationship and now Ranma was going to share clothes?

"Nabiki... does he really have to do this? It's embarrassing!" Akane mourned.

"No way, I'm not going to wear no stupid skirt!" Ranma shouted, making sure that despite her giving in on the situation that she still had certain requirements.

"But Akane, your clothes are the only one's that will be close enough to Ranma's body as a girl." Kasumi explained and turned back to Nabiki. "I don't know, Nabiki, I think that this one with frills will fit better."

"Are you sure?" Nabiki countered. She knew what had to be done but felt just a bit sorry for Ranma's situation. "I really think this plain blouse is just better. Ranma continued to brood and Akane was still blushing. She really hoped that her sisters at least didn't try to force Ranma into girl's underwear as well. A few minutes later, Ranma stood wearing a world of pastels; a light orange shirt underneath a pink pair of overalls became her new outfit and the Tendo sisters stood staring.

"Look at that, it's a perfect fit!" Nabiki marveled. She hadn't really been expecting to find anything that would match together AND fit Ranma 's body. But there it was, the outfit of a teenage girl standing right in front of them. Ranma couldn't help but notice everything wrong about the attire she now wore and continued brooding.

"Well?" Kasumi asked with a smile.

"It's too tight! See? It pinches my chest!" Ranma blurted. Akane felt ashamed and Ranma once again didn't notice her affect on her fiance.

"Well what about the waist?" Nabiki asked. Ranma grabbed at the material and began flapping the excess around.

"Too baggy!" Ranma announced. Nabiki saw Akane turn her head and sit back down on her bed.

"Uh – oh..." she realized with fear. She turned to Kasumi. "We'd better get out of here, they might need some room for this." Nabiki whispered.

"Room for what?" Kasumi whispered back, following her younger sister to the door.

"Room for ground zero." Nabiki answered and they exited, closing the door behind them.

Meanwhile, Ranma had been confused about the whole situation and stared at the closed door. She went to ask Akane but when Ranma turned to her, she started hearing crying.

"Ranma, how... how could you say that to me?" Akane got through her sobs.

"What? Please stop cry..." Ranma started.

"Don't try that right now, Ranma! I know it's painful but it's not fair right now for you to say that!" Akane finally turned back around and looked at the red head. Ranma studied Akane's face and realized there was something else at play here.

"Was it something I said?" she asked.

"Of course it was!" Akane sputtered, anger beginning to swirl in with the sorrow. "Just whose clothes do you think you're wearing?"

"Yours but I..." Ranma stopped and thought about what she'd said. The chest was too tight but her hips didn't need so much room; she'd essentially just passively insulted Akane's looks. And here Ranma thought she'd vowed to never call Akane uncute again. Ranma blushed and sat on the opposite side of the bed. Akane saw the blush and knew Ranma understood.

"So why Ranma? Why did you have to go and do that?" Akane felt as if the world were against her.

"I didn't mean to, I was just telling the truth. But I'm sorry." Ranma offered.

"It's not just that." Akane managed. Between her emotions and her desires with Ranma, a tug of war had been playing out but thankfully the latter won. "It's just not fair!"

"What's not fair, Akane?" Ranma looked straight into Akane's eyes. That had worked back during the Dr. Tofu incident, maybe it would work now? Akane saw his face turn and looked as well. Despite her being a girl at the moment, Ranma seemed capable of still bringing out Akane's courage.

"It's not fair that you're a better looking girl than I am!" Akane admitted. Ranma gasped and put a hand over her mouth. So that's what it was all about! "And you're a boy!" Akane turned away from Ranma and started crying again.

"Akane, it's not that way!" Ranma started to explain and placed a hand on Akane's shoulder. Akane didn't want that and moved away to sit at her vanity. Ranma watched her move away and slumped, her arm falling beside her. She hadn't lied about Akane's emotions hurting her more than anything and Ranma felt a lump in the pit of her stomach. What could she do? Akane didn't seem to want any physical comfort but that was all Ranma could think of since she had no idea what to say.

"It's not like I enjoy this body." Ranma explained mournfully and fell onto the bed, sprawling out her arms. It seemed like every time the two of them made progress, something else reared its ugly head.

* * *

"I don't think this is the place, but I might as well try." the cloaked man observed. He stood on a cliff side overlooking a small village. Undoing the knot keeping the cloak tied, he jumped off the cliff and threw the cloak aside. A bright, red umbrella sat on top of the backpack he wore; grabbing the umbrella, he deftly whipped it around and opened it so as to make a safe landing. He alighted on the dirt road below him and replaced the umbrella on top of his pack. 'Gotta find the town hall or something.' he decided. Walking into town, he tried to find somebody who looked like an official or guard.

Meanwhile, one of field workers from the town came running out from the forest and screamed at the top of his lungs. "A wild boar is coming!" Yusuke Yoshida bellowed as he ran back into town. "A WILD BOAR IS COMING! IT'S HUGE!" The town heard the man's warnings and soon the whole town was abuzz in panic.

"What are we going to do?!"

"Our poor homes!"

Soon enough, the wild boar of mention came running out of the forest and ran straight through the fence. Its rampage made houses shake as it ripped through buildings and fences. The entire town began gathering at the town hall since it was up on high ground and really had only one entry point. Yusuke helped count out the town members and hoped no one was hurt. As he made his final count, he noticed someone walking the path that led out to the main road. The man had on a yellow, long sleeved shirt and green pants with yellow ties around his lower legs. Holding a red umbrella and wearing a spotted bandana on his head, it looked as if the stranger had rolled through town without them noticing.

'Not too surprising, we're dealing with our own crisis right now.' Yusuke thought to himself. Turning back around, he realized that the wild boar was heading down the same path leading out to the main road. The stranger was in danger of being run over! "Hey! Stranger!" Yusuke called out. "You're in danger! Watch out behind you!" The bandana man merely kept walking and Yusuke closed his eyes as the boar was mere feet away from killing the poor man. He braced himself for the inevitable scream of death but seconds later, all he heard was the gasps of his fellow townspeople. Opening his eyes, Yusuke looked back to the stranger and gasped with amazement himself.

Standing there with his umbrella stuck straight into the boar's nose was the bandana man, unscathed!

The animal kept pushing as mightily as it could but to no avail, the umbrella continued to hold the creature at bay. "Well hot damn!" Yusuke marveled. "He stopped the boar with an bamboo umbrella!" The show was not over as the umbrella man finally let go of the beast, its determination suddenly working against it. The boar's momentum suddenly flung it forward and the man ducked to crouch directly underneath the animal. With squeals of indignation and surprise, the boar couldn't help its fate as the umbrella man proceeded to launch the giant boar up into the air and out of the town. Then, as if nothing had happened at all, the umbrella man replaced his tool on top of his backpack and sighed briefly.

Yusuke came running from the town hall to greet the town savior. "Wow, you're really strong there, stranger!" he complimented the man. "You do them martial arts?"

Suddenly, a piece of paper was thrust into Yusuke's face and he stepped back. "Tell me where I can find Furinkan High School!" the stranger asked with a shout. Yusuke gulped and stared at the stranger's determined demeanor.

"Furinkan High School?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, it has to be around here somewhere." the stranger declared. Yusuke took a look at the paper in his face and realized it was a map. He studied it for a second and then screwed up his face.

"Hey, this is a map of Tokyo!" Yusuke announced.

"Well sure!" the stranger agreed.

"But this here is..." Yusuke looked back to the stranger confused, "...Shikoku."

"Shi... Shikoku?" the stranger asked with fear. He lifted a fist in the air.

"Mm – hmm." Yusuke answered. The stranger seemed very upset suddenly and Yusuke couldn't figure it out.

"I'm sorry to bother you then." the stranger bowed. "How do I get to Tokyo from here?"

Yusuke pointed at the road out. "It's just straight ahead of here. Go out that way and follow the road. You'll soon make it to the main road and that'll take you straight to Tokyo." Yusuke explained.

"Thank you... again, sorry to bother you." The man began following the road but as he exited the gate signifying the entrance to town, he turned to the left and Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

"Does that guy not know how to follow directions?" he pondered aloud. "We might be seeing more of him."

Minutes later, the stranger stood on yet another cliff side, this one facing the sea. The stranger clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. "This is a battle of honor between men." he closed his eyes and began to fume. "JUST YOU WAIT, RANMA SAOTOME!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

* * *

"Just wait a minute, Akane." Ranma stated. She'd suddenly had a moment of inspiration and hoped maybe Akane would stop crying if she told Akane this. "Just because I said those things, it doesn't mean anything." Ranma watched as her gambit caught Akane's attention. She was still sad as ever but she looked up at Ranma.

"Oh yeah? How so?" Akane blubbered. She hated being known as the least beautiful and wished she were dead right now. However, Ranma started smiling and it caught her off guard.

"It matters **because** I'm not a girl." Ranma winked and Akane raised an eyebrow. She didn't understand and Ranma was sitting there smiling.

"What do you mean? I already said that." Akane brooded.

"I know you said that but I didn't. And I didn't want this curse either." Ranma's pride started swelling as she realized she was really coming along at understanding feelings and emotions. It was good too, because maybe their relationship could go further... Ranma stopped thinking down that line for the moment and returned to the present. "I don't like being a girl. Sure, it's been useful for certain situations but that's all it is. If I really liked being a girl, I wouldn't have put up so much of a fight with Nabiki just now." Akane stared at the red head before her and contemplated her words. She didn't realize it but the tears had stopped flowing and Ranma smiled knowing this was working.

"Go on." Akane managed.

"Ok, so if I don't care to be a girl... if I don't really want to be one if I don't have to, then why does it matter that my **CURSE** is better looking than you?" Ranma offered. Akane looked at her floor and thought about what Ranma was saying. Ranma didn't like having breasts or dealing with girl's clothes and she knew that. So why was she using that as a reason to be ok about the whole thing? Ranma still had to stay like this right now and...

Akane went wide eyed as she realized what Ranma was getting at. Ranma was being forced to be a girl. She had NO CONTROL over anything right now when it came to being a girl. And that included her looks. Ranma had no intentions of lording it over Akane or making fun of Akane for her looks. She realized how stupid it all sounded now that she knew the truth and Ranma was suddenly a source of happiness again.

"Besides," Ranma folded her arms and beamed at Akane, "I like you just they way you are. In your own right, you're beau... be... beau..." Ranma fumbled over her words and started blushing. 'Oh great, not another stumbling block.' Ranma thought frustrated.

"It's ok, Ranma." Akane consoled the red head. She understood what Ranma had been trying to say and she appreciated it... the blush on Akane's face told Ranma that. "I know what you're trying to say. Just take it slow, remember?" Akane finally smiled and Ranma sighed with relief, knowing it was over.

"I just wish I could take it slow in my own body." Ranma joked and the two teenagers shared a hearty laugh that both needed. It looked like this was over and another smile they couldn't see joined them.

"I'm so happy for you, Akane." Soun Tendo whispered as he removed the glass he'd been using to listen to the conversation behind Akane's door. Having been the only one in the dark about Akane and Ranma, he'd been wondering why the rest of the household seemed content on leaving the couple to their own devices. Soun had been concerned that Ranma and Akane weren't getting along but after hearing that conversation, he knew they'd be just fine. "Take it slow as you want, you've got time."

* * *

"We haven't got the time, Ranma!" Akane yelled as the two teenagers ran into the living room.

"Hey, I ain't leaving without breakfast!" Ranma yelled. Both of them had overslept and for some reason, none of the family had seen fit to wake either of them. Ranma reminded himself to lecture Nabiki about he whole thing.

"No way, Ranma!" Akane shouted and grabbed Ranma's arm before he could sit down to eat.

"Wait, Akane!" Ranma pleaded but to no avail. Akane simply ran ahead, dragging Ranma behind her.

"Don't you two want your lunches?!" Kasumi called out as they exited the house.

"No thanks!" Akane answered back. Kasumi raised an eyebrow and cocked her head.

"Strange girl." she commented on the situation.

"Akane, let go of me. This isn't very comfortable." Ranma complained as he was still being dragged behind.

"We gotta get there on time so we can fight the idiots and get to class. Who knows how many more have joined the usual group during the break?" Akane countered. She didn't notice as they passed by an old lady splashing water on the path.

Minutes later, the Akane and Ranma approached the gates of Furinkan High School. Akane was just trying to get there on time and get through the fight easily this morning. A strange break for one week had been announced and they hadn't had school since they'd told Kuno the truth. What Akane wasn't expecting to see was the group of athletes standing around the gate and crying. She came to a halt and Ranma finally had a chance to breathe.

"Akane, why wouldn't you just give me a chance to catch up with you or something." Ranma asked. Akane realized Ranma's voice was female and she turned around. Grabbing at Ranma's blouse, Akane opened it and stared at Ranma's chest.

"When did this happen?" she asked confused.

"I told you to wait." Ranma chided Akane. Ranma suddenly became aware of the crowd in front of them and stared at them. "So what do you want?" Ranma asked incredulously. Akane had forgotten about them to check out Ranma and gulped.

"Button your blouse, idiot. Button it!" Akane barked at Ranma as the red head obeyed with embarrassment. Turning around, she faced the crowd of athletes. "Alright, who wants some?" Akane asked with fervor. No one came forward and the sound of their crying continued.

"We have accepted our defeat." one of them stated.

"We had a meeting over the break and we all decided that we'd choke back our tears and accept your engagement to Ranma Saotome." a fencer continued. After that, they all began to cry even harder. "After all, you two already seem to be in love." Akane and Ranma blushed at the thought of love and both looked downwards.

"We understand your feelings, Saotome, and we understand your love." a wrestler called out to the red head behind Akane. Being called 'Saotome' brought Ranma out of her stupor.

"Wait, how'd you know who I am?" Ranma gulped. She really didn't need the whole school knowing her secret.

"Kuno's got a big mouth and if you can make **him** understand your curse, we have to believe it." the wrestler answered.

'So much for a normal life.' Ranma thought.

Meanwhile, a yellow shirted teenager came walking down the pathway in front of the school. He panted and felt as if he'd been walking forever. Of course, his journey between the Shikoku village and Tokyo hadn't exactly been a straight line. Watching as students made their way in through the gate, the teenager grabbed at a boy in particular and stopped him dead in his tracks. Hiroshi gulped and looked at the guy who had a hold of him.

"Where is Furinkan High School?!" the guy demanded. Hiroshi looked at him, unsure if this was a joke. Then he pointed behind them. The guy let go of Hiroshi, who took advantage and took off to get to class. Meanwhile, Hiroshi's assailant looked at the sign that Hiroshi had pointed at. He began to read it. "Fu... rink.. an... High... School..." he finished and began to smile with success. "I... I made it!" he declared triumphantly and placed a hand against the stone fence. "I made it!"

Back where Akane and Ranma stood, the scene of many athletes surrounded them. Akane was just weirded out by the sudden change of these guys. What could have brought this on?

"And just what made you guys decide to do that?" Akane asked.

"Because, Akane Tendo..." a familiar voice announced to the left of them, "a base falsehood claims that rascally knave Ranma Saotome has bested me in combat. And that on top of this, you have accepted Ranma's 'love' and knocked me back as well." The whole crowd, including Akane and Ranma, turned to see that Kuno was standing there covered in bandages and looking incredibly pained. The two Tendo household dwellers realized just exactly what had occurred to Kuno after he'd been knocked into the stream by Akane's bag. "Senpai Tatewaki Kuno shall NEVER admit defeat!" Kuno claimed with a shout.

"Tatewaki Kuno was Furinkan High's greatest champion!" an athlete from the crowd cried out.

Another one nodded his head but smiled. "He was also its greatest pervert!"

"Who are you calling a pervert?!" Kuno demanded in both anguish and rage.

"Hey Ranma, here!" the wrestler from earlier called out and tossed him a kettle of water. "You're an okay guy and we've decided to just get over Akane."

"Uh, thanks!" Ranma thanked the wrestler as he poured the water on her head to change. Kuno stumbled to a kneel and Akane rolled her eyes.

"Oh Kuno, just look at you!" Akane pointed out. "Just deal with the truth."

"I said I shall NEVER accept defeat." Kuno reminded her. "Whether Ranma Saotome kicks me one hundred times or two hundred times, it matters not to Tatewaki Kuno!" With that, he pulled down the bandages over his mouth and showed the wounds inflicted by Ranma's kicks still imprinted on his face.

"Oh yeah?" a strange voice called out. "Then let me make it two hundred and one! Ranma is mine and mine alone!" Suddenly, a boy in a yellow shirt came flying out of nowhere. His foot connected with Kuno's face and knocked the kendoist flying back into the side of the courtyard. The crowd of athletes, having said their piece and freaked out by this latest fighter, began to disperse. The new teenager among them landed on his feet and turned to the now male Ranma. He began to laugh as he whipped out the umbrella on his backpack and pointed it at Ranma.

"What the?" Ranma sputtered.

"Ranma," the boy declared, "prepare to die!" At that he jumped into the air and Ranma watched as the figure of this apparent opponent came striking downwards.

"Akane, watch out!" Ranma yelled as he picked her up into his arms and leapt out of the way of the umbrella's strike. The umbrella wielding teenager landed with the umbrella's point striking into the ground right where Ranma and Akane had just been. As Ranma landed with Akane in his arms, he watched as the ground in a circle around this fighter crumbled into debris around the umbrella wielder. "Wow, that's gotta be a pretty tough umbrella to do that." he commented. Then he suddenly became aware of who he was holding and scrambled to put her down.

'You finally got to hold me, Ranma!' Akane thought inwardly. However, her thoughts were interrupted as the umbrella boy addressed Ranma again.

"At last! I've found you, Ranma Saotome!" he chuckled. "So, I see you're still good at running away!"

"You know this guy, Ranma?" Akane asked. Ranma shook his head.

"I feel as though I've been waiting for this moment for thousands of years." the guy in question announced. "Are you still feigning ignorance, Saotome?"

"I really have no clue, man." Ranma answered.

"You mean you really don't remember?" the umbrella guy asked, confused as if he should always be known. Ranma threw his arms up, shrugging his shoulders. "It really doesn't matter, just answer me this one question: WHY DIDN'T YOU COME TO FIGHT ME AT THE APPOINTED TIME?!" the teenager shook with rage as he bellowed his question.

"A fight?" Akane pondered.

The gears clicked in Ranma's head and suddenly he realized who this guy was. "OH!" he shouted. "I remember now! You and I were classmates in junior high, right? Your name was... uh..." Fumbling over the memories, the boy walked over and glared at Ranma causing Ranma to lean over in embarrassment.

"It's Ryoga Hibiki!" Ryoga shouted. This was insane to know Ranma wasn't remembering anything about him at all.

"Right!" Ranma gulped. Then he gained his confidence back and smiled, reaching out to greet Ryoga. "Long time, no see!" Ryoga knocked Ranma's hands away and the latter raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Just answer my question!" Ryoga demanded. "Tell me, why didn't you come to the fight?"

"But Ryoga..." Ranma sputtered. He knew this story was going to get the crowd that had accumulated around them interested. "...I waited at the appointed place for three days!" Ranma heard a few people falling over in disbelief.

"THREE DAYS?!" Akane uttered, shocked at such a long time.

"Oh yeah, you waited three days!" Ryoga leered. "But when I got there on the fourth day, you had already turned tail and ran!"

"F... fourth day?!" Akane could not believe Ryoga's words; just what would cause any fight to be delayed so long?

"Uh, Ryoga?" Ranma began asking. "Let me ask you a question. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the place we agreed to meet for the fight the empty lot behind your house?"

"So?" Ryoga asked, unsure what his had to do with anything.

"So why'd I have to wait three days for you to show up to such an easy location?" Ranma asked angrily.

"Don't patronize me!" Ryoga raged. Ranma suddenly lost his own anger, wondering just what was going on. "Do you think I was just strolling around Japan for my health?!"

"So what were you doing then, huh?" Ranma asked.

"Listen up! You have no idea the troubles I've endured!" Ryoga answered. "I left my house and tried to find that accursed lot but the journey was long. Every time I asked people where I was, I never could find the right place. From Hiroshima to Nagasaki to Yokohama, I seemed incapable of finding where I was going. Finally, on the fourth day I finally made it to the empty lot behind my house. AND YOU WERE GONE! YOU COWARD!"

Ranma and Akane could only stare at Ryoga; was he really that incompetent when it came to directions? Ranma thought back to junior high and guessed that it had to be true as Ryoga's story fit with what Ranma had experienced. Just more insanity to add back then, right before Jusenkyou. Meanwhile, the teenagers gathered around the spectacle had started gossiping.

"The guy's got no sense of direction, huh?"

"Probably can't even read a map correctly!"

"The poor guy probably can't find his way anywhere!"

Ryoga gritted his teeth. "You went and broke a man to man promise, Ranma!" Ryoga shouted. "And then you dared to run off to China with your father?!"

"So let me get this straight: you came here to finish the fight?" Ranma asked.

"Oh I haven't come to finish it." Ryoga announced, opening his umbrella and preparing to strike. "The fight has just begun! This is revenge!" He tossed the umbrella and it flew straight towards Ranma. Akane watched as Ranma easily avoided the spinning object and dodged it as well. If it hadn't been for how insane life seemed nowadays, Akane was sure she'd have been a lot more weirded out by Ryoga's appearance.

"Revenge?" Ranma repeated, uncertain as to what he could have done. "Revenge for what? What did I ever do to you to make you want revenge on me?" The umbrella came flying back as if it were a boomerang and the crowd behind Ranma and Akane yelped as the object threatened to hit them. It flew back towards the couple and they dodged the thing again. Ryoga caught it and his face boiled with anger.

"Don't play dumb with me! I'm here to destroy your happiness, you got it?" Ryoga declared.

Ranma gulped and looked at Akane. He'd just gained some happiness and he didn't really feel like losing Akane ever. Meanwhile, she addressed Ranma. "Just what is it that you did to him?" she asked.

"Huh," Ranma snorted, "that's what I'd like to know."

"Look," Akane pointed at Ryoga, "this isn't any old little grudge, Ranma. He's furious!"

"Enough stalling, let's fight!" Ryoga took off towards Ranma, raising his umbrella to strike. As he did, Ranma suddenly slammed a fist into his palm as he realized what was going on. "Ranma!" Ryoga yelled.

"Ryoga..." Ranma began as he put a hand up to stop Ryoga. Ryoga stopped short of running into Ranma's hand and confused, looked towards his opponent. "...I think I understand it all now. Wait here for a second, ok? I'll be back." Ranma took off and Ryoga stared with anger.

"Hey, get back here!" Ryoga shouted. Akane placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Ryoga, Ranma will be back if he says he will. Besides, we don't want you to go get lost again, do we?" Akane beamed at Ryoga. He nodded uncertainly and sat down to wait for Ranma's return.

Meanwhile, Kuno awoke from Ryoga's blow. "Whe.. where is the one who dared hit Tatewaki Kuno?" he yelled as he proceeded to get up. "I shall smite the..." he never finished as Nabiki walked up behind him and knocked Kuno out again.

"Trust me, Kuno baby," she told him as she dragged him inside, "this is definitely an event you don't want to interrupt."

Five minutes later, Ranma did return and he was carrying a bunch of something in his arms. He took one of them and tossed it over to Ryoga who caught the object and looked at it.

"Curry bread?" he read, confused. "What is this, Saotome?"

"How about it, Ryoga? Forgive and forget?" Ranma offered.

"You mock me?!" Ryoga shouted, squashing the bread in his fist.

"Geez, you're greedy!" Ranma stated. "Fine then, here!" He tossed another wrapped bread to Ryoga and named more as he continued to throw them all to Ryoga. "...chow mein bread, croquet bread, melon bread, cutlet sandwich, meat bread, seaweed bread... happy now? I didn't forget anything, did I?"

Ryoga seethed. "What do you take me for, Ranma Saotome?" he bellowed, holding his newly acquired pile of bread.

"I gotta ask myself, Ranma, just what is going on here with all the bread?" Akane asked.

"Huh? Oh well, I went to an all boys junior high – school before going back to Japan for the month before I met you." Ranma explained. "I've been thinking about this whole thing a bit since I met the creep, Kuno. Lunchtime there was just like a battlefield, Akane! You've got no idea! It was just plain terrible!" Ryoga continued seething as Ranma told his story. "You see, most of the time I was there in the cafeteria by the time they had nothing left but one more piece of bread. Then, since that cafeteria lady didn't want to deal with trying to hand it to anyone in particular, she'd throw it out to us like we were dogs or something. One of those days, as the bread was flying, I used someone's head to launch myself up and get the bread. Turned out to be Ryoga Hibiki here and he stared me down like I had just stolen his family fortune or something." Ranma turned to Ryoga. "Then you turned to me and asked me my name. I told you and your exact statement was, 'Ranma Saotome! I will never forgive you! You stole my bread, you lousy thief!' " Ranma's story caused everyone to look at Ryoga. "You were crying over a piece of bread, for crying out loud!"

Ryoga huffed. "Oh, just shut – up!" he yelled.

"But I don't get it, I mean a piece of bread isn't such a big deal to have started a revenge journey." Akane mentioned, still confused.

"I thought so too but this kept on happening. It seemed every time at lunch Ryoga started trying to compete with me for the flying bread. Of course, he's a better martial artist now (or so it seems) then he was back then so he never got any."

"Sounds to me, " Akane decided, "like the straw that broke the camel's back!"

"Listen Saotome," Ryoga dropped his bread and picked up his umbrella again, "this goes way beyond some stupid bread feud. That may be why I hated you enough to challenge you to that fight back then. But today's fight is fueled by something greater than that! Thanks to you, I've seen hell!" With that, Ryoga once again tossed his umbrella at him.

"Look Ryoga," Ranma sighed, as he jumped out of the way, "if it's not the bread, then what is it?"

"No more questions, now we fight!" Ryoga screamed.

"Fine, have it your way." Ranma relented as he landed behind Akane...

...AND WATCHED AS RYOGA'S UMBRELLA CAME SAILING BACK, STRAIGHT TOWARDS AKANE!

"Akane, look out!" Ranma screamed.

"Huh?" Akane asked and turned around to see that she was mere feet from being struck by Ryoga's umbrella. Time slowed down as Ranma ran to step in between the weapon and his fiance.

"AKANE!" he yelled out. Meanwhile, Ryoga had realized too that his actions had endangered an innocent bystander. And it was girl too! He had to stop it! He began to run as well. The crowd gasped and no one could bare looking as the umbrella sailed towards its target. There came a loud thwacking noise, a grunt of someone fainting, and then someone hit the ground.

Akane opened her eyes to see what had occurred. She thought that she'd heard Ranma step in between her and the umbrella just in time except, he has standing in mid stride with a look of disbelief on his face. She followed his gaze to see Ryoga lying on the ground unconscious with his umbrella at his side. Akane looked back up at Ranma and met his gaze. Neither of them could find anything to say. The crowd did it for them.

"Well, guess that's over."

"Man, still can't believe that guy was upset over bread!"

"He did save Akane, though."

"Yeah, but did you see Saotome? He would have saved Akane first if he'd been closer. Those two really do love each other!"

Once again, the couple blushed at the idea of love. They had been able to make progress and accept their fondness for each other over the past few weeks. But neither were ready yet to say those three little words. After the crowd had left, Akane stared at the unconscious form on the ground.

"Should we wake him up?" Akane asked. Ranma shook his head.

"The idiot had this coming, let him sleep. Besides, I think I've had enough of idiots for today." Ranma answered and they went inside for class. Thirty minutes later, Ryoga finally began to stir. He rubbed his head where his own umbrella had knocked him.

"I can't let that happen again." Ryoga told himself, fist clenched. "My vengeance is on Ranma, not anyone else!" Lifting himself up from the ground, Ryoga looked around. Finding no trace of Saotome, he began to fume. "Ranma Saotome! Where have you run off to now?!" he yelled and began to run off to search for his enemy.

"Hey, Ryoga wasn't it?" a voice called to Ryoga from a window. Ryoga stared up to see a girl in a school uniform with a short haircut calling out to him.

"Uh, yeah?!" Ryoga answered, unsure of what to do.

"And you want Ranma?" the girl called out again. Ryoga nodded his head. "Well, he's staying at the Tendo training hall!" The look on the boy's face turned happy and he raised a hand to wave to her.

"Thank you..." he called out to her.

"Nabiki!" she called back to Ryoga with a devious smile. She watched as Ryoga ran out of the school and down the street until he disappeared. Nabiki turned back around and thought to herself. 'Well, this should be more than enough for helping you with Kuno, Ranma. You may be family but I have to keep my edge!" She giggled.

* * *

Four days later, Ryoga had been searching for the Tendo training hall with no luck. He'd come to a small village and stopped running to catch his breath. After doing so, he looked around. "Maybe I should ask for directions." Ryoga told himself and went to go inside the building beside where he'd stopped. It looked familiar though he knew not why. He opened the door and addressed the people sitting inside.

"Where is the Tendo training hall?" Ryoga asked loudly. Suddenly, he recognized one of the faces there and cried with defeat.

"Well hello there!" Yusuke Yoshida greeted Ryoga. "I had a feeling you'd be coming back here!"

Ryoga fainted from both the surprise of having returned to Shikoku and from his long, arduous journey. His last thought was, 'Why is it I never seem to get where I'm going?'

* * *

End Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	9. Sweet & Sour Truth

**Chapter 9**

**Sweet & Sour Truth**

Breakfast at the Tendo dojo a few weeks later was just like any normal day; the Saotomes finished their workout (with the regularly scheduled fall into the koi pond), Ranma came to the table greeting Akane with a smile, and the Tendos looked on in smiles themselves as Genma the panda lumbered off to take a bath. Akane looked to her fiance and smiled back.

"Ranma, don't you want to change back right now?" she asked.

"Ah, it's ok for now. I may hate the body but right now, I'd rather eat!" Ranma answered and began to dig in like a back hoe. Akane raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"Leave some for the rest of us, ok?" Akane teased. Ranma looked to her fiance and smiled sheepishly.

"I suppose that might be easier like this!" Ranma teased back and made a silly face. Soun placed down his newspaper.

"What's easier like this, Ranma?" Soun asked with a stern look on his face. The Anything Goes School of Martial Arts needed to be carried on and Ranma's comment seemed to fly in the face of that. Akane grimaced along with Ranma as both girls realized Ranma had revealed something dangerous.

"Oh, it's just that..." Ranma searched for an answer, "...it's just that, well, uh... it's just that a... girl's body can't take as much food, right? I mean my stomach is smaller now! Isn't that right, Akane?" she turned to Akane and started laughing in fear.

"That's, uh, right!" Akane laughed herself. This seemed like the stupidest plan but she went along with it anyhow. "I told him that myself!" Soun looked to both of them. He smiled suddenly.

"Well, now, I suppose you're right!" Soun announced and joined the laughter.

'Whew! That was close!' Ranma thought, still laughing.

'Really, Dad?' Akane looked to her father. 'How did you not find us out?'

"RANMA SAOTOME!" a voice rang out with anger. "I found you at last!" The Tendos and Ranma turned around to find a teenager about to plunge a bamboo umbrella straight into Ranma's back. Ryoga had come to continue his "revenge"!

"Ryoga?!" Ranma acknowledged. "How did you find me here?" Ryoga, seeing the red head in front of him was not who he was looking for, stopped short of his strike and dropped to the ground.

"I'm sorry, miss. I mistook for Ranma Saotome." Ryoga apologized.

"Oh! We have a visitor!" Kasumi chimed in. "Hello there! Are you one of Akane and Ranma's friends?" Ryoga growled.

"I don't know who Akane is but Ranma Saotome is definitely not a 'friend' !" Ryoga cried. He turned back to Ranma and bowed. Akane screwed up her face, completely confused.

"Ryoga, what the..." Ranma began.

"Again, I apologize for trying to harm you, miss." Ryoga explained. "I had no clue Ranma had a sister but you definitely look like each other so you can understand, can't you?" Akane shook her head.

"He doesn't know, does he Ranma?" Akane asked.

"Ranma's is here?" Ryoga asked fervently, gripping his umbrella tighter.

"I'm right in front of you, dumbass!" Ranma answered.

"You, share his name?" Ryoga asked with confusion.

"This is like Kuno all over again." Nabiki commented on the scene, taking a bite of her breakfast.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Ranma yelled and went to grab a water kettle. Coming back, she addressed Ryoga. "Now watch carefully, and trust me when I say, this isn't black magic!" The last thing Ranma wanted was for someone to think she was cheating again. She proceeded to pour the water on her head and watched Ryoga's face as she changed back. "Now do you get it?" Ranma asked. Ryoga said nothing as his face displayed no discernible emotion. Finally, he lowered his head and seemed to be... crying?

"Ranma!" Ryoga began, clenching a fist. "I understand that somehow you have the ability to change sexes." Akane pondered as to why Ryoga would just accept this fact so calmly. "But don't think that any 'disguise' will get you out of our fight!" He leapt to strike and Ranma deflected the bamboo umbrella.

"Ah, would you just give it a rest?!" Ranma bellowed and did a flip to the side in order to keep the house and the Tendos out of the way of Ryoga's fight.

"No way! I finally found you again and I don't intend to let even my bad sense of direction get in the way of my revenge?"

"Revenge? What's he talking about? What did Ranma do to him?" Kasumi asked fearfully.

"It's a long story sis!" Nabiki answered, as Soun leaned in to hear the conversation as well. "But basically, Ryoga here went to junior high with Ranma and a stupid bread feud caused him to hate Ranma. Now he wants to 'destroy' Ranma's happiness or something like that."

"And his bad sense of direction?" Soun asked curiously.

"The first fight those two were ever supposed to have never happened because Ryoga traveled all over Japan looking for an empty lot that was behind his own house!" Nabiki answered and watched her sister and father's eyes bug out.

"Oh my! The poor dear must be so hungry if he gets lost all the time." Kasumi decided. "After all, he doesn't seem to get anywhere he wants." Soun nodded.

"While it is the duty of the owners of a dojo to take on any challenge at any time, it is breakfast and even a challenger deserves a fair fight." Soun declared. He got up and walked towards where Ryoga and Ranma were fighting. He placed a hand on Ryoga's shoulder, who stopped suddenly in his fight and looked up to the Soun. The latter's face beaming, Ryoga was confused.

"Huh?"

"Son," Soun began, "I understand that you and Ranma here have some unfinished business but it's still early in the morning and you deserve a fair fight." Ranma stared at the Tendo patriarch. What was going on here? "Please, your journeys across Japan must make it hard to find time to eat a real meal. Please join us and then you and Ranma are more than welcome to use the Tendo dojo to finish your challenge from long ago." Ryoga and Ranma shared the same bug eyed, confused look and stared at each other.

"Uh, sure." Ryoga finally answered.

A minute later, Kasumi had an extra meal ready and placed it before Ryoga who sat to Ranma's right at the living room table. Kasumi had worked just a little bit more fancier on this meal in honor of the guest and Ryoga could not help but stare happily at the meal. Kasumi smiled, knowing what the look meant.

"Itadakimasu!" Ryoga shouted and began shoveling food into his mouth. Kasumi smiled again as the teenager gorged himself. "Thank you, Kasumi! You're father was right about one thing, I never get meals like this on the road!" Soun smiled.

"Like I said, you should be at Ranma's level! It's only fair and I know Ranma would rather have an opponent at his equal." Ranma stared at Soun. While Genma had spoken with Ranma consistently about not fighting anyone below his level as it was dishonorable, Ranma would have rather decided this on his own. He looked to Akane and she smiled.

'I do suppose some things are okay when decided for you.' Ranma decided to himself. "So Ryoga, where did 'ya get to this time?" Ranma addressed his 'opponent'. Placing his chopsticks down briefly, Ryoga glared at Ranma but knew not to strike and dishonor the family before him by breaking their offer.

"Well if you must know, I've been all across Shikoku and Yokohama." Ryoga answered.

"That 's insane!" Soun gasped. "How can even the worst sense of direction get you that far away from Tokyo?" Ryoga merely hung his head in shame.

"I know, right?" Nabiki agreed. "I know you don't get where you're going immediately but I figured telling you about the Tendo dojo would at least keep you in Tokyo, Ryoga." Nabiki smiled as four flabbergasted people sat before her as she revealed who had led Ryoga here.

"You told him where Ranma was staying, Nabiki?" Akane asked with a tinge of anger. The last thing Akane wanted was more fights in their lives. Ranma and Akane had just recently stopped the insanity before school. Ranma pounded his fists into the table.

"Why'd you go and do that, Nabiki?" Ranma demanded.

"Hey, you almost caused me to go soft with the whole Kuno thing. I had to get my payment somehow!" Nabiki winked and watched as Ranma and Akane's anger turned into shame.

"Oh." was all Ranma could manage.

"It doesn't matter Saotome!" Ryoga announced and stood up as he was finished with his food. "I would have found you eventually!"

"You sure about that, Ryoga?" Ranma countered. "It took you so long to find Furinkan High – School." Ryoga growled and began to throw a punch. However, Soun stepped between the teenagers and stopped Ryoga's fist.

"Ryoga!" Soun stated. "I said you could us our dojo, not our living room!" Ryoga gulped.

"Ye... yes sir!" he acknowledged.

* * *

Five minutes later, Ryoga and Ranma stood across from each other in the dojo of question as the rest of the family and Genma sat far away enough so as to not get involved in the fight about to occur. Akane couldn't help but feel sad. She had tried to get Ranma to stop.

_"Ranma, I know we are both martial artists but I just can't stand to see you get hurt." Akane begged._

_ "Akane, you know I can't turn down a challenge." Ranma answered. Looking towards Ryoga, he sighed. "Besides, Ryoga won't quit until he's destroyed my happiness as he put it. And I won't lose that... you are my happiness." Akane gasped and suddenly realized she couldn't stop this if she wanted to._

Akane returned her attention to the present and sighed. 'Just don't get hurt, ok?' Akane silently asked. She had seen Ranma get injured before and the more the couple liked each other, the more Akane realized just what Ranma felt when he said happened when he saw pain on Akane's face.

Soun addressed the fighters. "Alright! Ryoga, Ranma is a member of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Therefore this is a no holds bar contest... you can use just about anything but don't get reckless. As members of the Anything Goes School, we still have honor and do not use cheap tactics!" Ryoga merely nodded his head.

"I have no intentions to do anything except beat Ranma to a pulp!" Ryoga declared. Soun nodded and turned to Ranma.

"You are a member of this school, Ranma, remember your duty!" Soun shouted. Ranma sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah..." he answered.

"Alright then, let the match begin!"

Ranma and Ryoga stared each other down for a bit before Ryoga took the first move. "Shall we pick up where we left off?" Ryoga asked with a malicious grin and opened up his umbrella again. Ranma had been ready for this and as the umbrella in question came flying towards him, Akane gasped in surprise as instead of merely dodging the weapon Ranma kicked it into the air. The device lost its spinning momentum and tumbled across the dojo to land beside Genma. "Well, I guess you do have some skills other than running away, Saotome!" Ryoga sneered.

"Hey, you're the one who came after me!" Ranma countered. "Besides, I've had enough fights at school to fill a lifetime."

'Ain't that the truth?' Akane agreed silently.

"Well my umbrella isn't the only trick I have either!" Ryoga declared. Ranma watched as Ryoga began pulling bandanas off of his head, though he still wore one of his own. It was as if Ryoga had infinite bandanas at his dispense. He began to spin them in his hand and chuckled as he did so. "See if you can handle this!" Ryoga threw the bandanas at Ranma as if they were boomerangs. Realizing a mere kick would send these items on much more dangerously random courses than the umbrella, Ranma ducked down and prepared to snatch each one out of the air. He caught the first one but to his dismay, Ranma saw as Ryoga was taking advantage of the distraction to run straight at him. Ranma grimaced and dodged as best he could. Rolling out of the way, Ranma barely dodged the punch as the remaining two bandanas and Ryoga's fist sailed into the dojo wall. Soun grimaced slightly.

"Hey, I said you could use the dojo! Don't destroy it!" Soun yelled desperately.

"Oh poor father!" Kasumi replied. Meanwhile, Akane studied the fight intently. She had seen incredibly fast movement but couldn't see clearly what had occurred and was curious as to just what it was she saw. Something had definitely passed between Ryoga and Ranma during the latter's dodge.

"Ok, so you got my attention." Ranma addressed Ryoga. "But this doesn't mean you've got the upper hand."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryoga asked, pulling his fist out of the wall. "I would have had you if your dodge was just a second later!"

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. Look up dummy!" Ranma announced. Ryoga obeyed and watched as a yellow bandana came sailing straight down at him. Ryoga grimaced and tried to dodge but the bandana sailed straight past his shoulder and sliced into him a bit before landing into the floor. Grabbing at his shoulder, he faced Ranma and gritted his teeth.

"I didn't even see you throw it!" Ryoga declared.

"That's because I didn't!" Ranma answered back. "See?" Ranma held up the bandana he'd caught in his hand and tossed it aside.

"Then what was that?!" Ryoga asked. Confused and angry, Ryoga let go of his shoulder as the pain of the wound finally let up.

"My foot." Ranma answered.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ryoga asked.

"You see, where your bandanas used to be, they're all now in the roof... except the one that fell and hit your shoulder and the one I caught." The entirety of people there looked up and Soun gasped as they all saw a multitude of bandanas stuck into the roof of the dojo.

"My dojo!" Soun cried.

"How the heck did you do that, Ranma?" Akane called out.

"Like I said, I kicked it with my foot." Ranma replied confidently. So that's what she'd seen! Ranma had kicked at the side of Ryoga's head and launched those bandanas into the roof! Akane clenched fist and smiled. She definitely had to ask Ranma to train her so she could learn some of his speed! Suddenly, she heard a grunt and looked towards the sound. Genma was at the umbrella from earlier and seemed to be having difficulty with picking it up.

"Uncle Saotome, what is it?" Akane asked and walked over to him.

"This umbrella..." he grunted, "weighs a ton!"

"Here let me try!" Genma gladly let her attempt and though she lifted it up slightly more than Genma had, she still grunted with difficulty. A shocked look played on her face and she gulped. If Ryoga was waving this around with one hand, he must have incredible strength! "Ranma, watch out!" Akane called out. "He's really strong!"

Ryoga, meanwhile, was still seething. "You may have kicked away my bandanas and my umbrella away but that doesn't mean I'm finished."

"Why? You got more tricks up your sleeves?" Ranma asked, eyes lowered in disinterest.

"Fight me Saotome!" Ryoga launched an attack and the two of them fought hand to hand for a bit. Suddenly, a pitter patter sound started and Akane looked up. It seemed it had started to rain outside.

'I hope water doesn't seep in here.' Akane thought anxiously. 'Ranma doesn't need that in the middle of such a close battle!' The sound of something clinking brought Akane's attention back to the fight before her. She saw Ryoga clasp a cuff around his left arm and snicker. He'd cuffed Ranma and himself together so that they couldn't move more than ten feet away from each other!

"There!" Ryoga announced. "Now you can't run away like before!"

"Run away?" Ranma sputtered. "Are you talking about our 'fight' at school? Look, you got knocked out by your own umbrella and I went home. I didn't run away from any fight, you lost your ability to continue!"

"Just fight!" Ryoga screamed and continued his barrage of punches. Akane took to her feet and began biting her nails. She knew this was important, she was a part of the martial arts herself. If anyone challenged the dojo, then she had just as much right as Ranma to defend it. But, something was different now. Akane realized quickly the reason for her emotions. She'd always known that she wanted to marry someday and loved romantic movies. But there wasn't a movie she'd seen yet that really portrayed how connected a couple becomes to each other. They did love an injustice as all emotions, not just happiness were involved.

'If ever a movie is made of Ranma, it will have to include the fact that we want to protect each other.' Akane thought.

Meanwhile, Ranma was forced to throw punches and kicks of his own due to the change in his range of motion. Ryoga was good; in fact, Ranma realized that they were pretty evenly matched. Just two months ago, he'd have hated having to ever admit just a fact. Thanks to Akane, he was able to just focus on the task ahead of him. Ranma's ego still existed but he was able now to just ignore it if not affronted by these facts by an ego just as large. Unfortunately for Ryoga, he owned that large ego.

"Ranma, I can't believe you. I thought you'd at least be a challenge. To find we're evenly matched..." Ryoga never finished the statement as he realized Ranma started to fume.

"What did you say now?" Ranma demanded. Ryoga didn't expect to see an ego like his own but quickly started wishing he had paid more attention. His battle aura flickering like fire ablaze across a forest, Ranma clenched his fists. Akane knew how angry she could get but had never seen an ego cause the same emotions(besides Kuno, of course). Maybe the both of them could work together on their emotions as well as skill in battle? "I don't think so!" Ranma yelled. Ryoga barely had time to react and defend himself as Ranma's punch sent him flying through the dojo wall.

"My poor dojo!" Soun Tendo cried in anguish and fainted.

"Father!" Kasumi cried. As the rest of the family attended to Soun, Ranma leapt through the hole in the wall to find Ryoga.

"Ah man, why's it have to be raining?" Ranma complained. The change quickly took effect and Ranma set her mind back to the task at hand. "Where'd 'ya go, stupid jerk? You can't be too far with that cuff attached to your..." Ranma faltered as she saw a pile of clothing and a disconnected cuff lying five feet ahead of her. Ranma walked over to the heap and studied it. "That's odd, why'd he shed his clothing." As Ranma tried to decipher Ryoga's intentions, she suddenly went wide eyed and a familiar yet unnerving thought came to Ranma's mind. "Oh no! Ryoga, you didn't?"

"He didn't do what, Ranma?" Akane asked, having soon followed Ranma through the hole in the wall. Freaking out, Ranma quickly kicked the clothing into a bush and picked up the other side of the cuffs.

"Guess the fool didn't want to fight me any more!" Ranma lied. "See? He undid his cuffs!"

"Oh, I see." Akane acknowledged. "I guess this means we won't be seeing from him for a while."

'Much sooner than you think, Akane.' Ranma corrected to herself.

* * *

With the excuse of trying to find her "cowardly" opponent, Ranma still searched the streets in the Tendo's neighborhood a half an hour later. She still couldn't find heads or tails of Ryoga and was beginning to think maybe Akane was right. Ranma slumped against a wall to catch a breather and escape the rain for a minute.

"Oh Ryoga. I know you wanted to find me and pay me back for the stupid bread." Ranma sympathized aloud. "But you didn't have to follow me everywhere. You didn't have to follow me to China!" Ranma put a hand to her forehead. There was no other explanation for it in Ranma's mind. Ryoga had said he'd been searching for Ranma for so many months. And with a pile of clothing left behind in the cold rain, the only explanation was that Ryoga had followed Ranma everywhere...

...including to Jusenkyou!

"That poor slob!" Ranma cried into the rain. "I promise Ryoga, things'll be different when you come back. I know how hard it is to be cursed." Just then, Ranma heard a growling behind her and turned around to see a dog in the rain. Could this be Ryoga's cursed form? Ranma nodded her head; it had to be, just look at those eyes! It was too much of a dead give away. "Just stay calm, Ryoga. I can help you but we gotta stop fighting first!" Ranma told Ryoga the dog. He suddenly changed his demeanor and looked at Ranma as if worried. "Don't worry, Ryoga, I'm not going to hurt you. We just need to get you cleaned up. Thankfully, your clothes are still back at the house." Ryoga the dog started panting with joy and barked a happy yelp.

Meanwhile, Akane had finished a bath (having gotten wet herself from the rain) and sat down on her bed. Watching Ranma battle was just too much for her but she knew she needed to find a way to be ok with it, otherwise their lives together would never work out. Realizing she'd thought about living a long life together with Ranma, Akane blushed and put a hand to her mouth. Her embarrassment faded as she heard something bump around her vanity.

"What the?!" Akane, startled, looked around the floor but found nothing. 'Something's in my room.' she noted. Another noise, this time coming from the closet, drew her attention and Akane whipped her head around to see something black rush across the floor to hide under her bed. "Hey you, get back here!" Akane shouted. She went to peer under her bed but as she knelt down to do so, her danger sense went off and threw a punch behind her. Akane's fist connected with something and she turned around to find a little, black piglet roll across her floor and into her dresser. It shook its head and faced Akane with fear, growling at Akane. "Come here little piggy! I'm sorry! It thought you were more dangerous! I won't hurt you!" Akane tried to coax the piglet over too her. Slowly but surely, it did and finally let Akane touch it again. "Can I hold you?" Akane asked and picked up the pig. It started shaking in her hands. "You came from outside, didn't you? You're cold from the rain!"

Ranma walked into the living room and sat down with a towel to dry off the dog standing next to her. Ryoga the dog gave a little yelp as she dried him off and looked at Ranma happily. "You would never guess we'd been fighting thirty minutes ago, huh?" Ranma spoke to the dog before her. "Look Ryoga, I understand your troubles but you can't just come barging into the house. Even if Mr. Tendo is ok with your challenge, I'm a guest here." Ranma stared at the dog Ryoga had become. 'So strange how every cursed form looks a little like their original selves.' Ranma observed to herself.

"Ranma, whose dog is that?" Akane interrupted Ranma's thoughts. Ranma jumped hearing Akane's voice and turned to see her walking in.

"Oh, I just found him when I was out. The poor mutt was freezing in the rain so I thought I'd give it a place to stay for the night." Ranma lied. She turned back to Ryoga. 'I'll keep your secret, Ryoga. It's the warriors code, right?' The dog before Ranma seemed to just stare right back as if uncertain to what was going on.

"I'm sure I've seen that dog before, Ranma." Akane explained. "Where'd you find him?"

"This dog? Around the neighborhood while searching for that... for Ryoga." Ranma had been about to insult Ryoga but felt ashamed after thinking about what Ryoga'd been through. Again, she knew what a curse was like to deal with.

"Of course!" Akane realized, interrupting Ranma's musings. "That's the Yamada's dog! I knew I'd seen her before! Here Bess!" Akane called to the dog and the animal responded with a happy bark.

"Wait, this is a female dog?" Ranma stuttered.

"Of course she is, didn't you notice?" Akane asked. Ranma looked at the dog's underside and realized it was true.

"And here I thought... oh well." Ranma sat down and pondered. 'I wonder where Ryoga is right now.' A sneeze caught her attention and turning, Ranma noticed the animal in Akane's arms. "What's that?"

"Oh, this is P – chan!" Akane announced. "He's a little pig I found in my room a few minutes ago." The pig in question started squealing at seeing Ranma. Akane held it closer. "Don't worry, P – chan. Be a good little piggy and quiet down." Holding the piglet closer to her, the pig started blushing.

"What a dirty little pig! You held him closer to your chest and it starts blushing!" Ranma declared.

"Oh don't get jealous over a pig, Ranma!" Akane chastised.

"Just what does P – chan stand for anyway?" Ranma asked.

"P as in pig and chan as in cute! P – chan!" Akane held P – chan out to Ranma. "You're gonna go take a bath to change and warm up from the rain, right? Would you take P – chan with you?"

"Take a bath with a pig?" Ranma asked incredulously. As if to agree, P – chan started squirming and squealing again. "I guess." Ranma took a hold of P – chan but merely took him by the strange bandana he wore. Walking down the hallway towards the bath, Ranma held P – chan up to look at him. "Just what is your problem, anyway? I ain't done nothing to 'ya!"

Minutes later, Ranma stripped out of her wet clothes while holding the still struggling P – chan with a foot. He tried to get free but Ranma merely put pressure back on him with her foot. Grabbing the bandana again, Ranma opened the way to the bathtub and started the water. "You know, you little runt, the way you're acting I'd say someone tried to hurt you." The tub was full and Ranma turned the water off and prepared to dump P – chan in. The sudden presence of the water caught the pig's attention and instead of trying to hurt Ranma, P – chan merely struggled to not have to get into the water. "Oh come on, pig, a little bath ain't gonna hurt. In 'ya go!" Ranma announced and dunked the pig underwater. A second later, Ranma felt as if something were going on underwater and suddenly, a huge splash came rocketing from beneath the water's surface. As the water settled, Ranma realized she was holding onto the back of someone's head. Letting go, Ranma gasped as Ryoga turned around and growled at her. "Ry... Ryoga?!" Ranma observed.

"Ranma, be sure to wash him all over! Especially behind the ears!" Akane called from the changing room.

"Uh.. sure." Ranma answered back. She turned her head to face the angry Ryoga again. "So then, you're the, uh, pig?" Ranma asked.

"Ranma, you're dead!" Ryoga threw a punch and Ranma blocked it with a bucket.

"Hey come on now, I didn't do anything!" Ranma explained.

"Oh no? If you hadn't skipped out on our fight, I never would have had to chase you to China!" Ryoga argued.

"Does this mean you really did go to Jusenkyou?" Ranma asked.

"I've endured hells of all sorts, thanks to you!" Ryoga spit bitterly. "I had to cross the whole of China on foot and it was arduous. Then one fateful day, I was standing on a cliff overlooking some strange spot with poles and pools. I couldn't tell if you'd been there but thought I'd ask the guide I saw in the distance, walking to some house. I never got a chance to try that because a second later, some crazy girl and a panda came tearing out of the forest behind me. I turned around just in time to see them and managed to jump out of the panda's way but unfortunately, the girl had made an effort to strike the panda with her foot. Being in her way, the crazy girl struck me instead and knocked me into one of the pools below." Ryoga closed his eyes and clenched a fist. "As I tried to swim to the surface, I felt a strange transformation taking place and when I reached the surface... I realized I'd been cast into hell! Being a girl is heaven compared to being a pig!"

"Oh yeah? How so?" Ranma countered.

"Because you never get mistaken for lunch!" Ryoga spat back. "After I struggled to get to that cursed pool's end, that same panda picked me up and took me to the house of the guide. There, the guide told some story about a spring at Jusenkyou called some crazy Chinese name and said that it was really the spring of drowned piglet. Whoever fell into that spring would take on the body of a black piglet. As if knowing my curse wasn't enough, then the two of them tried to cook me for dinner! And if it hadn't been for the fact that they dropped me in hot water, I'd have been eaten for sure!"

"Oh Ryoga, that's terrible!" Ranma sympathized. Ryoga got angrier seeing Ranma feeling sorry.

"Don't you dare try to get out of our battle by suddenly pretending to feel sorry for me!" Ryoga shouted.

"Hey, keep it down!" Ranma warned him. "And why wouldn't I feel sorry for you? You're right to say I haven't ever had to suffer being eaten as a girl. But I've faced troubles of my own!"

"Don't you dare try to compare the two! It's your fault I'm even stuck like this!" Ryoga tried another punch and Ranma countered.

"Come on, don't blame me Ryoga!" Ranma argued. "Didn't you say it was some crazy girl who knocked you into the spring and a panda that tried to eat you?"

"So?" Ryoga asked incredulously.

"So how could it be me? I'm a guy!" Ranma countered.

"It doesn't matter!" Ryoga splashed some water out in frustration. "You skipped out on..." A noise of the bathroom door opening caught their attention. Genma stood there and was looking like he was about to talk when the water Ryoga had splashed hit him straight in the face. During the time it took to travel, it had turned cold enough to trigger Genma's transformation. Genma the panda stood there for a second, then sighed and turned around to wait his turn. Ryoga's brain started churning and an epiphany started forming. "A panda?" he stuttered, realizing Genma also had a Jusenkyou curse. He turned to look at Ranma. "And a... girl?" Ranma suddenly realized it truly was her fault about Ryoga's curse and started trying to look cute to change Ryoga's anger.

"Heh heh!" she giggled. "Just a little accident?"

"I see now, it really was you!" Ryoga threw a third punch.

"Ah come on now, Ryoga. I said I was sorry!" Ranma pleaded. "My pop and I were still dealing with the fact that we'd been cursed too! I just wanted to knock him around."

"You knocked me!" Ryoga shouted.

"Hey Ranma, you done in there yet? Your dad wanted to take a bath too and I said it was okay but he just lumbered out without a word." Akane called out again from the changing room.

"Just finishing up on the little guy!" Ranma lied.

"I'm coming in." Akane announced. Ryoga's face went white and he ducked down a little.

"What am I going to do?" Ryoga whimpered.

"Change back, you idiot!" Ranma told him. Ryoga nodded his head and grabbed the shower head to to spray himself with cold water. The head fell out of his hands and P – chan skidded across the floor as Akane stepped in.

"I see he's done!" Akane reached out to grab P – chan.

"Where are you going?" Ranma asked.

"We're going to bed." Akane answered.

"With... the pig?!" Ranma sputtered.

"Yes." Akane stared at Ranma's emotions. "Don't tell me your jealous? We're fiances, remember?"

"Yeah but that's not..." Ranma began.

"But nothing Ranma, just finish your bath." And with that, Akane walked out and closed the door behind her. Little did she know that the pig she held was not any ordinary animal. And Ranma had all the right in the world to be jealous of it.

"Sleeping in Akane's bed?!" Ranma shouted. "Now you've done it, Ryoga!"

* * *

End Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	10. A Snippet Of The Truth

**Chapter 10**

**A Snippet Of The Truth**

"Goodnight, P – chan!" Akane told her newly acquired pet and closed her eyes to go to sleep. The pig in her arms just stared at the girl and blushed. Akane may only think of him as her pet pig, but Ryoga couldn't help but enjoy the attention she gave him. No one in his entire life had ever really been friendly towards Ryoga. Then again, with his sense of direction Ryoga couldn't really settle down anywhere for very long and hadn't made any long lasting relationships. He sighed inwardly, wishing a pig's body had more ability to mimic human emotions. Alas, there was only thing he knew it could do and that was to blush as Ryoga realized that he was falling in love with Akane.

Meanwhile, Ranma sat fuming in the living room next to the hot water kettle. She knew she had to talk with Ryoga and stop him from sleeping in Akane's bed at all costs. The jealousy played across her face and she clenched a fist. 'Just wait until Akane's asleep, then you can go catch that playboy!' Ranma reminded herself. Folding her arms, she realized that in her anger Ranma hadn't actually taken a bath, the bulge of her chest apparent. Ranma decided to go take her bath now. Akane would more than likely be asleep once she was done.

The bath did very little to calm Ranma down; he was still fuming as he scooped up a helping of the hot bath water into the kettle before leaving. His plan in mind, Ranma went to his own room and climbed out the window. Thank goodness his father was a heavy sleeper. Scaling the side of the house, Ranma made his way towards Akane's bedroom window. 'I hope she left the window open, I didn't really think that part through.' Ranma thought to himself. Trying at the window, he was in luck as it slid open. 'Guess she thinks she can take care of any prowler herself. She does have brute strength on her side'

Ryoga had been wafting in and out of sleep for thirty minutes and had just been staring at Akane's unconscious face the entire time. 'She's so... pretty.' he thought wistfully. His attention was brought elsewhere as the sound of something opening Akane's window set off Ryoga's danger sense and he was instantly awake. Ryoga the pig whipped his head around to find out what was happening. A breeze caused Akane's curtains to blow inwards, blocking Ryoga's view of what was climbing into the room. He slowly started to growl as the curtains fell to the side and he saw Ranma staring straight at him with anger to rival Ryoga's own. Ryoga was about to growl even louder to alert Akane when he noticed the object in Ranma's hand. Ryoga stopped growling instantly and gulped.

"That's right, pig!" Ranma whispered angrily at Ryoga. "If you don't want to reveal to Akane right here and now about your deceit, you come with me quietly!" Ryoga nodded in defeat and lowered his head slightly. Ranma saw as Ryoga the pig still left anger and indignation on his face. "It's your own fault for letting Akane take off with you! You could have warned her that you weren't a real pig. I only told you to turn into one so that Akane didn't think me a pervert sitting in the bathroom as a naked girl with you!" Ranma jumped quietly off the desk and grabbed Ryoga's bandana to lift him out of Akane's bed. The two stared at each other as Ranma lifted Ryoga the pig to his eye level. Ryoga growled softly and squeaked a protest even though he knew it to be useless. "Same to you, you dirty little pig." Ranma responded in a whisper. "Let's go to the dojo and change you back so we can discuss this as men!"

Minutes later, Ranma slid open the dojo doors and tossed Ryoga onto the floor with no concern for his well – being. Tossing Ryoga's clothes he'd also been holding over to the pig, Ranma began to pour the hot water on Ryoga and turned around. "Let me know when you're ready." Ryoga sat there staring at Ranma's back, having returned to human form. He dressed quickly and folded his arms afterward.

"There." Ryoga announced. "I'm decent, now what do you want with me?" Ranma heard Ryoga's tone and it only furthered his jealously and rage.

"What do I want?" he responded. "What do you think? What the hell do you think is okay about you sleeping in the bed of a girl? Especially one who's already spoken for?"

"What?" Ryoga responded.

"That's right! Akane is my fiance, you stupid pig!" Ranma yelled at Ryoga. Ryoga lifted his head to look at Ranma and the gaze of rage he found there stirred up even more conflicting emotions in Ryoga. He'd been having problems enough that he'd been falling in love with a girl he'd barely met. Now the target of all of Ryoga's rage was engaged to Akane? Not only that, but Ranma was definitely in love with her too, he wouldn't be defending Akane like this if he weren't. "I like Akane and I'm going to defend the 'happiness' you keep trying to destroy. Akane is the best thing that's happened to me in a long, long while!"

"I see." was all Ryoga could manage. Why? Why did fate have to be so cruel to Ryoga Hibiki? He already had the world's worst sense of direction, now the love he thought he'd found was spoken for. 'It's not fair!' he screamed inwardly, clenching a fist.

"Just stay out of Akane's room from now on, okay Ryoga?" Ranma demanded. He noticed Ryoga's depression and raised an eyebrow. "Hey Ryoga, you listening to me? What the hell is wrong with you now?"

"Ranma! You really are a jerk, aren't you?" Ryoga spat bitterly. He stood up and whipped around to face Ranma. "First you take my bread, then you knock me into the pool that made my life hell, now you take my one and only chance for happiness. I love Akane too, you know!" Ranma stared incredulously at Ryoga.

"What do you mean, you're in love with her? You've barely known her for a day!" Ranma argued.

"So?" Ryoga countered. "In that short time, Akane has shown just how sweet, kind, and loving a girl she is. Sure, it may only be towards a little, black pig named P – chan but it's enough. I've never known such a love in my entire life." Ranma studied Ryoga's face and realized Ryoga was just as determined as Ranma was himself. He stood up and faced the other teenager.

"Alright, that's how you want it?" Ranma announced. "Fine, let's finish our fight!"

"Huh?"

"Tomorrow, after school is out, me and you will finish our fight and winner will get Akane!" Ranma shouted, blind to the fact that he was not thinking straightly. Blind, because love truly was the word for what he felt, no matter how much he'd never admit it just yet.

"Winner gets... Akane?" Ryoga fumbled.

"That's right!" Ranma confirmed. "I've been nice in our fights before but if we both truly like Akane as much as we say, then a fight for something we're emotional invested in will be a battle we can both hold back nothing in." Ryoga nodded.

"Alright then! Winner gets Akane!" Ryoga shouted.

"It's settled then!" Ranma folded his arms and headed towards the door. "You can sleep out here for the night. Just stay in the dojo and I'll come for you on the way to school. STAY HERE! Don't go get lost otherwise we'll never finish this and this time, **I'll** search the ends of the Earth to find **you**!"

* * *

Akane walked past the same creek they always did on the way to school. But this time around, a third presence joined Ranma and her. Ryoga Hibiki walked on the same fence that Ranma did, only he did so by at least fifteen feet behind Ranma. Something was wrong; wasn't Ryoga intent on hurting Ranma? So why was he merely following them to school? In fact, why had he been sleeping in the dojo? She decided to find out.

"Ryoga," Akane asked of the teenager, "just what is going on? I thought that you wanted to fight Ranma?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ryoga gulped guiltily.

"I mean, why were you still here this morning? Putting your horrible sense of direction aside, just what were you doing in the dojo? And why are you following us to school?" Ryoga gulped again. He didn't want to lie to Akane but that would mean admitting his venture into her bed as P – chan. He grasped for words and Akane looked like she was about to get suspicious when Ranma spoke up.

"Oh now I get it!" Ranma announced. "You're following me to school so we can finish our fight. That sense of direction of yours is really that bad that you have to just follow others, eh?" If it weren't for the fact that he knew they'd be fighting to finish this all that afternoon, Ryoga would have punched Ranma's face in for teasing him so much. Instead, he held back his anger and merely sniffed at the comment. "Don't worry, you pig. We can finish this after school at the soccer field. Just make sure you don't leave the courtyard and after my classes, we can really finish this... once and for all!"

Akane stared at Ranma and knew something was different here. She'd known Ranma was a proud person but now he seemed intent on actually taking Ryoga seriously. Something had changed since the prior night and she couldn't figure it out. Ryoga turned to look at her and smiled a goofy, fanged grin. She smiled back, unsure what to make of any of the situation.

Classes could not have gotten out quick enough and when the final bell rang, Ranma rose from his seat quickly and took off for the courtyard. Akane watched as her fiance bounded towards the fight about to occur. Thanks to the grapevine that she knew existed around the students of Furinkan High, Akane watched as many of her own classmates hurried off as well to watch the fight. Sighing, Akane looked to the ceiling as she slowly walked to the school entrance. 'Why are you so determined to finish this suddenly?'

As Ranma and Ryoga stood on the soccer field, they watched as more and more students of Furinkan sat on the sidelines to watch the battle soon to erupt. Ranma shook his head. 'They should change the name of this school to Uwasa – no – renmei* High School.' He lifted his head and saw Akane join the group of students and smiled with pride. 'I'll prove to this whole school just what happens when my happiness is threatened.' Ranma decided. Clenching a fist, he looked back to his opponent. Akane merely watched Ranma's display, still trying to understand Ranma's change in demeanor.

'You seem so defensive, but why?' Akane brooded.

"Alright Ryoga, you ready for this?" Ranma called out. "Remember, this is an all out duel; hold nothing back!"

"Yeah, I know that!" Ryoga answered. He dropped the bag off his back and took up a fighting stance. "This is where I pay you back for everything you've done to me. This is where I destroy your happiness!"

"I told you Ryoga, I ain't giving up Akane!" Ranma yelled and surprised everyone as he made the first attack. Had it not been for his statement, Akane would have noticed the fact that Ranma was attacking first. Instead, all she could do was stare wide – eyed at her fiance. Now everything made sense! It wasn't Ryoga trying to finish the fight, it was Ranma trying to defend Akane from Ryoga. But now a new question came to mind: what was it that Ryoga had done to warrant such a reaction from Ranma? He'd said she was his happiness and that he had no intentions of giving her up. But just what did that have to do with Ryoga?

The teenagers duking it out on the field brought her back and she watched apprehensively. They were once again showing that they were both very good at their martial arts skill. Punches and kicks flying everywhere, the two boys were a sight to see. The Furinkan High students watched intensely and though Ranma had shown his talent before, they all were still highly impressed about the show they were watching now. Akane saw a blurred motion and this time, she knew to expect something crazy from Ranma's speed. Her expectations were confirmed as she saw a plethora of small yellow objects flying towards the hill beside the soccer field occupied by the rapt Furinkan student audience.

"Watch out!" Akane warned everybody and pointed towards Ryoga's bandanas as they speared their way towards the defenseless students. Cries of terror rang out as the bandanas began to land and boys and girls alike dodged as best they could from Ryoga's weapons. Akane caught one in her hand and rolled out of the way to avoid getting slashed by five more on the same collision course. 'Ranma, just what happened to you two since last night?' Akane asked silently. 'Just what did Ryoga do?'

"I had a feeling you'd stock up on more of those!" Ranma commented as he watched the bandanas fly. "No more sneaky tools for you!"

"I'm not finished yet!" Ryoga called out. He rolled away and snatched up his umbrella. Akane knew what was going to occur and didn't fear for Ranma's well being anymore. She did wish, however, just as intensely as ever to know what the cause of this row was.

"That umbrella again! It's so scary!" Sayuri, one of Akane's friends, commented.

"You think it's scary now?" Akane told her. "I found out yesterday that that umbrella weighs a ton."

"No way!" Sayuri blubbered. "You're pulling my leg!"

"No joke, Sayuri. And he waves it around one handed like it's nothing!" Akane watched as Ryoga prepared his strike.

"That's incredible!" Sayuri exclaimed and continued watching as well.

"Special delivery!" Ryoga bellowed and threw the umbrella at Ranma. The latter merely smirked and prepared his counter defense. He surprised everyone in the crowd as he neither dodged the umbrella nor kicked it away, as Akane had seen him do the previous day. Instead, Ranma snagged the object right out of the air! Its momentum instantly killed, Ranma held the thing one handed effortlessly as well.

"Ranma's pretty strong too, it seems!" Sayuri announced. "You're so lucky, Akane!" Akane didn't hear her friend, still intent on figuring out what was going on. She stood up and unconsciously started walking toward the field. "Akane, what are you doing?"

"Heh! This one's no good either, Ryoga!" Ranma scoffed, tossing the umbrella aside. "I told you I'm not going to hold back!"

"Me neither! I love Akane just as much as you do and I don't intend on giving up on her!" Ryoga yelled.

The collective gasps that escaped the crowd watching the fight could have been heard by space. And Akane herself had stopped dead in her tracks as all her questions were answered. She knew not how but the truth was more than obvious; somehow, Ryoga had come to like Akane and the reason Ranma was so defensive was that Ranma was indeed serious about their relationship. Akane stared at Ranma for a while, unaware that Ryoga had prepared for an attack. She wanted nothing more than to stop the fight.

Meanwhile, Ryoga had undone his sash and whipped it around. Ranma glowered as he heard a metallic ring emit from the object in Ryoga's hand. Ryoga bo longer had a sash in his possession but rather, a steel rod. To show its ability, Ryoga sliced through the grass below him and Ranma watched as the blades fell to the ground. Dandelion heads and the tallest grass were now cut, as if having just been mowed. "You just have a million dirty little tools at your disposal, don't you pig?!" Ranma quipped.

"Stop calling me pig!" Ryoga shouted and threw the rod towards Ranma.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted. Ranma watched in horror as the events before him transpired. Akane had began running after him again. That wouldn't have been as horrible if it weren't for the fact that Ryoga's steel windmill of death had begun to change directions. It was now on a collision course for Akane and she was going to be struck down by Ryoga's deadly weapon! Ryoga gasped, completely flabbergasted by his weapon's change of course. He was sure it had been thrown to take out Ranma and knew not how it was heading for Akane. Akane watched herself as the object in question caught her attention as it headed towards her. She had no time to dodge and Ranma was suddenly gripped by the fear of losing her not to Ryoga's desires but by her death.

"Akane!" Ranma shouted back and began to run towards her. Ryoga knew he didn't have enough time to save Akane and could only watch in terror as Ranma made his way to save the girl from her imminent death. As time slowed down, Akane screamed out in fear and shut her eyes. What she felt next was Ranma tackling her to shove them both out of the way. She opened her eyes again and was about to start crying in relief from her near death experience when she felt a slight pull at her hair and the feel of that hair suddenly becoming lighter.

A second gasp rang out from the crowd and Ranma wondered why until he looked at Akane. Thankfully, both of them had gotten out of the way of the dangerous blade and his tackle hadn't sent either of them to the ground. However, as the blade had passed by them both, it had sailed straight through Akane's flailing hair...

...effectively cutting her hair short!

Not a single noise could be heard from the Furinkan High soccer field as all eyes were on Akane's new "hair cut". Meanwhile, the girl in question stood there with a blank expression. Akane was clearly shocked and felt with her own hand at the frayed edges of her hair. Her hand dropped, limp, and she continued staring into space.

"Akane? You okay?" Ranma waved a hand in front of her. The fight all but gone from his mind's priorities, Ranma tried to get her attention. "Akane?" She finally came back to the present and stared at Ranma. Slowly, tears began rolling down her cheeks and she didn't care who was watching. Akane buried herself in his chest and Ranma, briefly embarrassed before gaining his composure, wrapped his arms around her.

"You were fighting for me, weren't you?" Akane asked through sobs.

"Uh, yeah." Ranma answered. He looked around and realized the crowd was still staring without a word. "I don't think I wanna continue though, this has been really stupid." Ranma told her. His words caught Akane off guard and she looked up at him.

"What do you mean, it was stupid?" Akane asked uncertainly.

"Let's gather Ryoga and we talk about this somewhere private." Ranma told her. She nodded and held onto him as they walked over to the still shocked Ryoga. "Hey, Ryoga, we three need to talk. Follow me." Ryoga came out of his stupor and nodded his head sheepishly.

* * *

Five minutes later, all three were sitting in the supply shed for physical education classes. Akane had been able to recover from her cry but was still thinking about her hair. A memory came to her as Ryoga sat their watching her with sorrow. A memory about unrequited love...

_"There you go now, Akane! All better!" Dr. Tofu told his young patient as she hopped off his patient bed._

_ "See you later, Dr. Tofu!" the young Akane called back cheerfully. She'd always liked Dr. Tofu and it was really fun to see the man._

_ "Thanks again, doctor!" Kasumi expressed as she rose to take Akane's hand. "You really are good at taking care of people!" Dr. Tofu fumbled with his hands as the eldest Tendo daughter addressed him._

_ "Oh, no trouble Kasumi! I like helping you too!" Dr. Tofu chuckled nervously. Akane wondered what was going on as Dr. Tofu's nervous fidgeting was foreign to her young mind._

_ Later, on the walk home, Kasumi looked down to her little sister. "Akane, you really need to stop getting into these fights at school." she scolded. "Sometimes I feel like I have a boy for a sister." Akane looked down in shame; Kasumi was always like a mother to her and trusted her. So hearing these things from Kasumi made her feel like she was in trouble. "You're not in trouble," Kasumi consoled her sister, as if to answer Akane's unspoken thoughts, "but I don't think Dr. Tofu will like you much anymore if you keep on acting like this." Akane stared at her sister's face and Kasumi smiled._

_ 'Kasumi's so pretty and Dr. Tofu acts really nicely around her.' Akane thought to herself. 'Maybe if I grow my hair out like Kasumi, Dr. Tofu would like me again!"_

Akane came back to the present and scolded herself; she'd already gotten over Dr. Tofu. But sighing, she supposed it didn't matter. She'd been accustomed to the length of her hair and really liked it. 'I guess... I guess to really let go and try to like Ranma, I have to let go of everything.' Akane decided silently. Running her hand through her hair again, she made a mental note to ask Kasumi to help her trim it up and make it look nicer.

Ranma had watched Akane's face for the past five seconds and it sealed the deal for him. The reason he'd brought them all to the shed reinforced Akane's emotions, Ranma looked to Ryoga. "Look," he started, "I think we've got a lot to talk about here but the first thing that needs to occur is the following." He bowed to both Akane and Ryoga, both of whom looked puzzled at the gesture of apology. "I owe you both this apology for one reason, I let my anger get the best of me."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked.

"Akane, I know you understand the situation. You asked if I was fighting for you before we left the field and you are a smart girl. You're right, I was fighting Ryoga for you and he the same." Ranma stared at the other guy in the room. Ryoga merely hung his head in embarrasment.

"Ryoga, how did you become so attached to me in such a short time?" Akane asked. Ryoga merely fidgeted more, he didn't know what to do and looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Ryoga, it's time to tell her the truth." Ranma told him and held up an object in his hands. Ryoga cringed as he looked up to see a bucket of what he knew to be cold water. This was not what he'd been expecting but Ranma's words were true. Akane deserved the truth and he couldn't let indecision stop him this time.

"Okay, I'll do it." He took the bucket from Ranma. Akane looked uncertain as to what was going on before her.

"Now before you do that Ryoga," Ranma explained and turned back to Akane, "Akane, can you please promise something?"

"Huh?" Akane asked.

"You need to know that Ryoga didn't mean to hurt you." Akane nodded at Ranma's words but still felt bewildered. "What you're about to see before you is not a man who had any intentions of betraying your trust, he just didn't know what to do. After all, you were very sweet, kind, and loving to him." Ryoga felt a chill as Ranma repeated his own words from the previous night. Ranma looked back to Ryoga and nodded. Taking in a sharp breath, Ryoga proceeded to pour the bucket of water onto himself. Akane was about to ask what was going on but the transformation taking place before her answered the question before it could leave her lips. The bucket fell and all that sat before her was a wriggling pile of Ryoga's clothes. The wriggling culminated into a little, black piglet with a clearly embarrassed expression on its face popping out sheepishly from the clothes. Akane gasped.

"P... P – chan?!" Akane managed. The piglet nodded its head and turned away from Akane's face, blushing in embarrassment. "Ryoga? You're..." Akane faltered and couldn't finish the sentence.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I only found out minutes before you came in to check in on us in the bath last night. I didn't want to be mistaken for having purposely exposed my girl's body to Ryoga and told him to turn back." Akane merely stared at Ryoga the pig as Ranma explained. "Ryoga didn't know what to do and as he told me last night when I snatched him out of your bed..." Akane gasped at hearing that two people had violated her privacy. "...I know, sorry Akane, but I couldn't let Ryoga stay there. Please forgive us both." Akane nodded, knowing that Ranma really had not malicious intent in entering her room while she slept. "Anywho, I talked with Ryoga last night out of anger and that caused me to challenge him to finish the fight, winner getting you. I shouldn't have but as I was about to say, in the short time he spent as 'P – chan', Ryoga came to feel the same love and kindness you've shown me, Akane. Apparently, he's never known that kind of love and latched onto it for dear life." Akane looked back to Ryoga the pig.

"Really, Ryoga? You've never been loved?" Akane asked. Again, Ryoga merely nodded his head, not daring to look Akane in the eyes. Akane knew her anger really wanted to win but she'd been practicing holding it down ever since Ranma had arived. As such, Ryoga's actions no longer made her upset. She bent down and Ryoga finally looked at her face. "Look, I don't like that you tried to stay in my bed with me. But you guys explained the situation and I can't blame you guys. If I didn't know just how wild emotions run in relationships, I'd have just pounded you. Instead..." Akane picked up the hot water kettle Ranma had collected and poured it on the pig. Ryoga soon stood before them and embarrassed of his lack of clothes he turned around blushing.

"Put your clothes on, Ryoga." Ranma told him. Seconds later, Ryoga turned back around and faced Akane again. Her smile soothed his uncertainty and he looked at her confused.

"Instead, Ryoga, I just want to say I'm sorry. It must suck not being able to feel that kind of love and I'm sorry it comes from somebody already engaged." Akane expounded. "But, I do hope we can still be friends."

"Me too." Ranma chimed in.

"What?" Ryoga sputtered, turning towards his former opponent. Ranma stood beside Akane, smiling not with pride but rather with welcome.

"I mean it, this battle between us has been pretty stupid. A bread feud? A misplaced sense of jealousy? Sure, the accident at Jusenkyou is my fault but I want to apologize for that too." Ranma explained. Ryoga could only stare at Ranma; was this the same guy who the night before had challenged him to fight to the finish?

"Why the change of heart, Ranma?" Akane asked.

"It's you, Akane." Ranma answered. "Every time Ryoga and I have fought, you've been in danger. And I don't want to be responsible for that anymore. You deserve safety, Akane, not some stupid suitor fights. At least, you don't need the ones that endanger you. Kuno is just an annoyance." Akane chuckled and the laugh seemed to lighten the mood in the room. "Ryoga, we need to stop. And I know that if you truly love Akane, you can give up on fighting me anymore."

Ryoga regarded Ranma and thought it over. Could he really give up the anger and depression he'd felt for the past few years? Could he really forgive Ranma for all he'd done? He looked into Ranma's eyes and found that Ranma was truthfully repentant of the past. Ryoga knew what he had to do.

"Ranma, I forgive you." Ryoga replied. Ranma smiled at Ryoga and for the first time since Ryoga's arrival in Ranma's life, Ryoga smiled along with him.

"Thanks pal!" Ranma accepted. "I really appreciate this. And I promise you this, we'll find you another girl who can love you just as much as you felt from Akane." Ryoga chuckled.

"Who's going to like a pig?" he snorted.

"You think that's hard?" Akane teased. "Try being the girl who has to like a man who's half girl himself!" They all shared a laugh and Ranma faced Ryoga to address his final thoughts.

"There's one more thing, Ryoga." Ranma explained.

"Hmmm?"

"We're both really good at martial arts, our fights taught me that. At first I was angry at the thought that somebody could beat me. But now, I realize why it was I really punched you through the dojo wall. It wasn't because I was angry, though I was. It's because I wanted to get better. You drove me to be better. And that's what I want us to do: let's strive to make each other better as martial artists!" Ranma held out his hand. "Can we do that, Ryoga?" Ryoga smiled and placing his hand in Ranma's, he lifted the gesture to make it look like he and Ranma were arm wrestling.

"I can definitely do that, rival!" Ryoga responded. The two of them smiled and the friendship they'd stuck that day seemed stronger already.

"Hey, I'd like to join in on that!" Akane spoke up. "I'd like to become as good as you guys. After all, I'm a part of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts too! I need to learn to be just as skilled!"

Ranma, caught off guard, turned to Akane. "Really?" he asked uncertainly.

"Hey, that's no problem!" Ryoga answered with a smile. "We can both train her, right?"

"Uh, right." Ranma answered. Akane beamed and Ranma started worrying. How could he train Akane? He didn't like to fight less skilled opponents and didn't want to hurt Akane. Ryoga seemed just fine about the matter and seeing he couldn't say no, Ranma nodded his head.

"Thank you guys!" Akane shouted and hugged Ranma.

"You're, uh, welcome." Ranma responded. How could he solve this problem?

* * *

End Chapter 10

* Uwasa no renmei or 噂の連盟 is Japanese for "Federation of rumors"

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


	11. The Hardway

**Chapter 11**

**The Hardway**

"Well now," Soun Tendo declared and examined the situation before him, "so it's like that then, eh?" The teenager who sat opposite him at the living room table nodded his head and gulped. Soun smiled. "Don't worry, Ryoga, I'm not going to throw you out on your feet." he explained. "Besides, you and Ranma have explained your situation perfectly. I see no reason why not to except your person here at the Tendo dojo as well. It's nice to have another possible student here at the Tendo training hall!" Ryoga looked up at the smile on Soun's face and started gaining the color back in his face.

"Re... really? You'll let me stay?" Ryoga asked in blubbering happiness. Soun laughed heartily and stood up to place his hands on Ryoga's shoulders.

"Ryoga Hibiki, any friend of Ranma's is a friend of the Tendo's. Besides, from what both of you have told me if you leave you won't be back for quite some time." Soun beamed. Ryoga could only stare back at the Tendo patriarch and nod his head sheepishly.

"Yeah, my stupid sense of direction doesn't exactly allow me to stay anywhere for very long. Plus, I was on the road for so long trying to find Ranma..." Ryoga trailed off as tears of joy streamed down his face.

"Well, those days are all behind you, dear boy!" Soun exclaimed, clapping Ryoga's shoulders. "You can use the Tendo dojo as a resting point in between any of your journeys."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Tendo!" Ryoga bowed and tears landed on the table.

"Like I said before, you're a friend of Ranma's and that makes you welcome here." Soun responded. "Kasumi will... ahem... 'guide' you to your room now." Ryoga caught Soun's sly grin at having said "guide" and Ryoga rolled his eyes.

'I guess Ranma couldn't be the only one who liked to tease others.' Ryoga thought as he stood up to follow Kasumi.

"You sure have a lot of things in that backpack!" Kasumi mentioned as they ascended to the second level.

"It's mostly just my clothes, tent, and a few cooking items for when I'm in the wild." Ryoga answered. "But I won't need those around here, now will I?" Ryoga beamed his fang toothed grin.

"Most definitely not!" Kasumi beamed back. She led Ryoga to one of the two final spare rooms they had left in the household and opened the door. "You'll be using this one." Ryoga looked in and found a modest room with space enough to sprawl out if need be. He turned around to bow to Kasumi.

"Thank you!" Ryoga sputtered. "You and your family, Ranma included, are way too kind for your own good."

"Oh!" Kasumi exclaimed, taken aback by Ryoga's extreme gratitude and bowed back herself. "No trouble dear!" Ryoga watched as Kasumi left the room, closing the door behind her. He then made to make what little of the room that he could. Considering he'd been wandering for several months, Ryoga hadn't garnered very many personal items. But he could try and make the best out of the room he could.

* * *

Ranma had sat in his room the entire time after having arrived home and explained the situation about Ryoga to Mr. Tendo. That was actually the easy part of this whole arrangement; getting another to be okay with one of Ranma's ideas didn't take too much when Ranma knew exactly where to press. Akane and him were fiances, it wasn't really that hard to ask a favor of your father – in – law, now was it? No, the question bothering Ranma now had come at the end of the conversation at school.

_ "Hey, I'd like to join in on that!" Akane had spoken up. "I'd like to become as good as you guys. After all, I'm a part of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts too! I need to learn to be just as skilled!"_

_ "Really?" Ranma had gulped as Akane had caught him off guard._

_ "Hey, that's no problem!" Ryoga had answered with a smile. "We can both train her, right?"_

_ "Uh, right." Ranma had answered. Akane had beamed and Ranma started worrying. How could he train Akane?_

_ "Thank you guys!" Akane had shouted and hugged Ranma._

_ "You're, uh, welcome." Ranma responded._

"You're welcome?" Ranma snorted to himself, coming back to the present. "Seriously, how am I going to solve this problem? I can't begin to understand how to train someone so beneath my own level." Ranma was so used to fighting and using his skills to get out of dilemmas (many not of his own doing) that the Art had become his life. How could he teach a second nature like that to Akane? Sighing, Ranma stared at the ceiling and knew that because he hadn't come up with any solutions he was in big trouble the moment he started having to begin "teaching".

His thoughts were interrupted as his father walked in and closed the door. Genma saw his son and smiled. "I'm proud of you Ranma!" Genma announced. Ranma looked up to his father confused. "That Ryoga kid could have just been another enemy waiting to happen but you turned it into something else!"

"I didn't exactly have a choice, pop." Ranma responded. "You see, every time Ryoga and I fought, Akane was in danger." Genma smiled even further.

"And that made you feel awful?"

"Yeah, like I was somehow not fit to be her fiance or something." Ranma clasped his hands over his mouth and looked to his father. The whole school knew they were serious, Ryoga knew Ranma wanted to make their relationship work, but Ranma knew nothing of the rest of the family besides Nabiki. Genma merely smiled gently.

"It's ok, boy. The whole family knows." Genma assured Ranma.

"Did Nabiki really tell everyone?" Ranma asked, still shy.

"Nabiki?" Genma asked in confusion. "No, it wasn't her. You see, weeks ago when you threw me in the pond for having... ahem... spied on your private conversation, I knew something was up. It didn't take your old dad too much to realize that despite your initial misgivings, you were trying to make the whole thing work. I told Kasumi and Soun found out by himself, I suspect by listening in on conversations he wasn't a part of. The whole family supports you, boy!" Genma clapped Ranma on the back.

"Yeah well..." Ranma began, "...I've got bigger problems than a nosy family right now." Genma stared as Ranma left the room.

"Nosy are we?" Genma huffed. "Is it so wrong that we are happy about your acceptance of the situation? I mean, come on... at least we're not hatching some hair brained scheme to force you two together!" Genma placed a hand to his forehead. "We're merely wanting the best for our children."

"Then stay out of our business and let us handle these situations by ourselves!" Ranma called back. Genma had thought the conversation over at Ranma's departure from the room. Looking up to see a sudden wave of cold water splashing its way into the room caught Genma off guard. Tossing the bucket into the room (not at his father, he'd honestly done nothing wrong really), Ranma smirked and walked downstairs to await Akane and Ryoga. Meanwhile, Genma the panda sat down on the bed and looking sullen, sighed.

'Maybe you guys do need help.' Genma thought.

* * *

Ranma had been waiting for twenty – five minutes and wasn't even sure Akane was actually going to come down. "What's taking her so long?" Ranma asked aloud.

"Don't worry, son." Soun beamed. "She'll be down so just be patient!"

"Yeah, I guess." Ranma responded, surprised that he was actually wanting to get to this. Hadn't he just been reluctant to even teach her because he was uncertain about his ability to do so?

"Besides, I'd be more concerned for Ryoga. He only had the pack on his back and yet he's not down yet himself?" Soun commented.

"Not surprising... Ryoga's sense of direction probably led him into the bathroom or something." Ranma smirked.

Meanwhile, the teenager in question actually was in the bathroom but though it had taken him a while to find it, it had been his actual destination. And he'd stayed in the bath for some time since it had been ages since Ryoga had had a real bath and not some hot water kettle dump. 'I can't believe my fortune.' Ryoga reflected to himself. 'Ryoga Hibiki, you have really gained something better than any stupid revenge would have given you. Thank kami – sama!' He turned and seeing a bucket next to the bench for washing your hair, Ryoga chuckled. "And at least Akane finding out about your silly little water problem isn't a worry anymore." Ryoga sighed and looked to the ceiling. "But who in their right mind would accept someone who turns into a pig? At least Ranma's still human and can speak and can use his hands when he's changed." The image of himself as "P – chan" (which was now a joke about his cursed form rather than a true pet name) drifted across his mind and he sighed again. "Ranma seemed serious, though, when he said that thing about finding me someone to love. Who could ever find it in their heart to love a stupid pig like me?"

Standing out of the bath, Ryoga made to dry off and get back to the living room. Exiting the bathroom and looking around the hallway, Ryoga sighed. "Oh great, I get lost even in a small house!" he exclaimed. "Where am I supposed to go? I need to get to the living room to wait for Ranma and Akane!" Ryoga was about to try and make a decision on his own when someone else did it for him. Despite knowing the affects of Jusenkyou first hand, Ryoga still stood slightly astonished as Genma the panda lumbered down the stairs and held up a sign. "The living room's this way, follow me." Ryoga read aloud. As he passed by Ryoga, Genma the panda gave a peace sign and smiled. Ryoga meekly returned the gesture and followed the panda towards the living room. "I guess being an animal, whether pig or panda, is hard!" Ryoga decided.

"A pig?" a voice rang out behind Ryoga and he jumped. Genma continued on and turned the corner out of sight. "More Jusenkyou madness, huh?"

"Who are you?" Ryoga asked uncertainly.

"Moi?" Nabiki Tendo asked right back and smiled. "Nabiki Tendo, at your service."

"So you're A..." Ryoga began, stuttering.

"Yes, I'm Akane's older sister. And Kasumi, if you can believe it, is older than both of us. Now what was this about being a pig?" Nabiki grinned slyly at the new plaything before her.

"Uh, yeah, I uh, I kinda followed Ranma and his father to Jusenkyou. I fell in, thanks to Ranma but that's all done with. Now I uh, change into a pig." Ryoga, despite his stammering, noticed how suddenly he didn't feel anger at talking about his change. At least, not the anger he'd felt blazing in his heart when he'd been searching for Ranma.

"Oh, I see. Must be pretty hard getting mistaken for food all of the time." Nabiki teased.

"Thank goodness most people just seem to throw pigs into a pot of boiling water. It hurts like hell but I'd rather be steaming than steamed pork." Ryoga grinned slightly. Nabiki laughed.

"Well then, I'd say you match the craziness of the Saotomes just fine."

"I won't always be around, you know." Ryoga countered. "I don't exactly have the world's greatest sense of direction. Hell, I was just following the panda to the living room but you kind of distracted me." Despite Ryoga's nervous smile, Nabiki still did a double take at his statement.

"Wow, I thought Akane was just joking with me." Nabiki came down the stairs herself and studied Ryoga. "Maybe I can do something about that?"

"About my... horrible direction sense?" Ryoga never imagined such a helpful family and even the obvious cold and calculating member wanted to help Ryoga out.

"We'll see." were Nabiki's final words on the matter. Placing her hands behind her back, she smiled. "Well then, welcome to the household! Follow me, I'll get you to the living room!" Ryoga smiled back and soon, the two of them were sitting at the living room table with Ranma and Soun.

"Well now, Ryoga, a nice bath does wonders, right?" Soun beamed at his new tenant.

"Yeah, can't believe how long it's been since I had a real one and not just some hot water kettle." Ryoga replied.

"Well, I'm assuming you've been dealing with hot water kettles a lot recently anyhow... what with your Jusenkyou curse!" Nabiki stated. Ryoga stared at the middle Tendo sister.

"I see, so you change too then, Ryoga?" Soun asked.

"Uh, yeah." Ryoga answered, not able to say anything against the deviously smiling female across the table. Ranma had caught the brief interchange and placed a hand on Ryoga's shoulder.

"Don't worry, man." Ranma announced as Ryoga looked to him. "You fit right in and at least we know that a little, black pig wearing a bandana is really you!" Ranma was definitely trying to be a friend to Ryoga and it helped calm Ryoga down.

"You're right!" Ryoga responded with a genuine smile. "You guys won't want to cook me." The four people in the room shared a hearty laugh.

"That's right, no sweet and sour pork for us!" Soun joked. Ryoga gulped and Ranma shook his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that Ryoga." Genma called from the living room entryway. "Ranma told me about how you came to try and get your revenge on us. I had thought you looked familiar but I didn't realize I'd tried to eat you." Genma knelt down on the floor and bowed to Ryoga. "Please forgive my stupidity." Ryoga sat flabbergasted at the entire family; everyone wanted to help and it had become too much for Ryoga as he began to cry.

"What's wrong, son?" Soun asked as Genma lifted his head to see the crying teenager.

"It's just..." Ryoga blubbered and wiped his eyes unsuccessfully, "...it's just that I've never known such kindness. Even the one member who's a calculating person wants to help me out!" Nabiki shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Thank you, all of you!"

"No, thank you Ryoga!" a voice called from the hallway and everyone turned to see Akane.

"Ak... Akane? Is that you?" Ranma stammered.

"I know, looks kind of different, huh?" Akane stated, smiling. The Tendos knew Akane with short or long hair so it didn't surprise them, but to Ryoga, Genma, and Ranma, the sight of Akane's new haircut took them aback.

"Uh, yeah." was all Ranma could manage. Seeing Akane with the short haircut was more than different, it was a complete shock. He got up and went to look at Akane closer.

"What? What are you staring at, Ranma?" Akane asked uncomfortably as Ranma looked directly at her face. Finally, Ranma leaned in to whisper into her ear.

"It suits you, Akane." Ranma told her. "It's... it's cute." Akane blushed but should have waited.

"We heard you two!" Nabiki teased and the couple blushed in sync, the red almost matching Ranma's hair in girl form.

"Yeah, well... just stop teasing us, okay? It's bad enough you guys all found out without our consent." Ranma declared. Nabiki just smiled and Soun joined her in the gesture.

"Don't worry, Ranma. We're just glad you two are getting along." Soun explained. "I know that my daughter is in good hands and I'm happy for you." The family stayed silent for a while as Ranma and Akane stood there sheepishly.

Finally, Akane broke the silence. "Well, shall we start the training guys?" Akane asked. Ranma lifted his head and remembered he had something more to worry about.

"Right!" Ryoga answered and stood up. "Lead the way to the dojo!" Akane beamed and gestured for both boys to follow her. Ranma gulped and followed suit; this was not going to be pretty.

* * *

Akane beamed as she entered the dojo and after bowing to the shrine inside, began her katas. Ranma and Ryoga were so good at the Art that she just knew she'd learn to get better at the whole thing from their teaching. Especially Ranma, who was so fast in his movements that you had to really watch carefully to catch them all. Akane had been looking forward to this since she'd asked the two recent friends to train her. Of course, she hadn't missed Ranma's faltering and still wondered what was going on there. Ranma still seemed occupied by something as they followed behind her into the building. Ryoga, meanwhile, seemed gung ho about teaching and had obviously missed Ranma's uncertainty.

Ranma broke her out of her thoughts as he entered the dojo. "I see the holes in the wall get fixed quickly around here!" Ranma joked and smiled at Akane.

"The house is another story." Akane responded. "Dad has too much pride in his dojo and school to let anything ruin it. Meanwhile, the house springs a leak and it'll take a week and a half before Dad even makes any comment about it."

"You want I should fix it before we begin?" Ranma offered, trying to delay their sparring even further.

"No, I meant **if **the house springs a leak." Akane explained. "Thank goodness it hasn't yet."

"Oh, I see." Ranma acknowledged with some disdain. Akane finished her katas as Ranma reluctantly began his own.

"Ranma, why do you seem so upset about teaching me?" Akane asked directly. Ranma felt his stomach turn and he gulped silently.

"I'm not upset, what makes you get that idea?" Ranma answered and laughed to deflect away the "stupid question".

"I see." Akane knew that Ranma was a tough nut to crack and old habits died hard... she'd have to wait and find out.

The three teenagers finished their warm ups and Akane addressed Ryoga first. "Alright, I want to start with you Ryoga. And don't take this the wrong way, but its because Ranma is more skilled than you and I would like to start a little closer to my own ability." Ryoga smiled, knowing she was right; just a week ago, such a statement would have caused him to send a flurry of punches at Ranma. Meanwhile, Ranma was sighing in silent relief at his fortune to go last. He knew Akane wouldn't give up on Ranma teaching her as well but for now, he'd been given a reprieve.

"Alright Akane, I think first you should show me what you can do." Ryoga announced and Akane nodded. For the next few minutes, Akane went through a small routine of her skill; she punched, she kicked, she attacked an imaginary opponent, and showed her speed along the way. It definitely didn't match either Ryoga's or Ranma's speed but Ryoga could definitely see potential for her to make her way into greater ability. It was actually amazing to see that it didn't matter where a person trained, whether the mountains or China or just at home, one could become a skilled martial artist with practice. Akane finished her demonstration and turned to see a beaming Ryoga. "That was definitely really good." Ryoga told her and Akane smiled. "Now that I have an idea of your skill level, I can spar with you at something just above that so you can have a challenge but aren't overwhelmed!" Akane nodded and faced to see Ranma. He was looking as sullen as ever and she didn't understand it. "Let's begin, Akane!" Ryoga declared. She turned around and took a ready stance to spar with Ryoga.

As the match began, Ranma sighed. He'd been watching the same actions that Ryoga had been, yet Ranma was only able to see where she needed to improve not where she was good. Akane was definitely good but compared either of them, she was not close at all. And Ryoga was talking about lowering his skill so it wasn't overwhelming. 'How can you lower your skill?' Ranma wondered silently. 'You either have skill or you don't! There is no...' He trailed off as he watched Ryoga and Akane spar. Very much unlike the small match between Ranma and Akane when the Saotomes had arrived at the Tendo household, Akane was actually landing strikes here and there and the same went for Ryoga. Ranma sat astounded as Ryoga really was fighting at a fraction of the skill he knew the bandana wearing teenager to have. They'd been going straight for the final strike in their fights yet here was Ryoga making sure to not overwhelm Akane with that same intensity. How? How was this even possible?

They finished their match and Akane, breathing heavily, turned to bow to Ryoga. "Thanks, Ryoga! You really made that a workout to remember!"

"You're welcome, Akane!" Ryoga answered, rubbing his shoulder. "You're pretty good yourself! I'll be feeling a few of those for a while." He went to sit down next to Ranma. "You've got yourself one hell of a fiance, Ranma! You'll both be able to protect the dojo!" Akane blushed slightly at the compliment but Ranma could only muster a weak smile.

"Well, it's our turn Ranma! Give me a second to catch my breath and then we can start!" Akane announced. The moment Ranma had been dreading had come and he was still at a loss for what to do. How could he fight at anything less than his own skill level? That would be an embarrassment to the Saotome school of martial arts and yet, how could he spar with Akane at such an overwhelming level? He'd had the maximum amount of time to think of something and had come up with not a single plan to accomplish the impossible. Now Akane stood before him, ready to spar and unaware that her new sparring partner was unable to teach her anything. Ranma thought desperately and finally realized maybe he could get away with something simple. Smiling slightly in his "victory", Ranma addressed Akane.

"Ok, you remember our fight on the first day I got here Akane?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah?" Akane responded.

"Well, from that and your ability to jump onto the fences on the way to school I've thought about teaching you speed." Ranma crossed his fingers in his mind and hoped his lie worked.

"That's cool!" Akane flushed and Ranma smiled, realizing she really meant it. "I've been admiring your speed during your fights recently. Your ability to kick multiple times without it being seen is amazing!"

"Well, obviously you won't get there just yet but we can definitely get you there. Here's what we'll do today. I want you to try and hit me as I dodge." Ranma announced. Akane nodded and took up a ready stance. "You ready?"

"Yep!" Akane beamed.

"Go!" Ranma began bouncing around the room as Akane followed Ranma around, trying to land hits. Ryoga watched from the sidelines as Akane almost managed a hit but Ranma dodged at the last possible moment. Shaking his head, he sighed.

'What's going on, Ranma?' Ryoga asked to himself.

After five minutes of the dodge fest, Akane and Ranma stopped and faced each other in a bow. "You did really well. You almost had me once, even." Ranma lied to keep up appearances. Akane nodded and smiled.

"Thanks again, Ranma!" Akane threw a hug around Ranma and he slowly embraced her as well, still unsure how to deal with their relationship. "I can't wait to get speedy like you!" Ranma gulped, knowing he was merely avoiding teaching her correctly. "Well, I'll see you guys for dinner!" Akane bowed to the shrine and left the dojo.

"Ranma," Ryoga began as he stood up, "just what was that?" Ranma turned to look at Ryoga and realized very quickly that he knew the truth.

"What do you mean?" Ranma feigned, smiling.

"Don't try and hide it, I could see you were just trying to avoid teaching her." Ryoga countered. Ranma slumped into a sit and avoided Ryoga's eyes.

"I don't know how you could do it but I just can't lower my skill level. It's just what it is so I had to think of something I could teach her on the fly." Ranma answered and gulped as Ryoga started tapping his foot. Looking up, he saw that Ryoga was unamused. "At least she can learn something, right?"

"Look, I'm not going to tell Akane about your lie and I'm not going to tell you how to train somebody. But can I give you a piece of advice?" Ryoga suddenly seemed much older than Ranma knew him to be. "You have to be honest with your student. And to top it off, Akane is your fiance Ranma... you'll be spending the rest of your lives together. Honesty is even more important and I learned that the hard way." Ryoga turned to stare at the shrine. "P – chan almost got me in trouble. Imagine if I had become your rival as a suitor for Akane: I'd have been dishonest about being a pig and sneaking into her room at night." He turned around and looked at Ranma. "Don't learn things the hard way, Ranma. Learn it now and at least tell her you have a hard time lowering your own skill level." Ryoga walked out of the dojo and Ranma could only watch him go.

"The hard way." Ranma repeated, scared of what the future held.

* * *

A few days later, the trio made their way to Furinkan High School. Akane beamed at the teenager to her left; Ryoga merely walked sheepishly as they traveled. It had been a while since he'd attended any school so the fact that they'd suggested he do so threw Ryoga off. He'd argued that with his sense of direction, he was really unsuited to go to school. Akane had merely smiled and said that she and Ranma would steer him correctly if need be. The issue no longer arguable, Soun Tendo had called the school and quickly had the youth registered. Of course, Ryoga insisted that he at least be given exemption from attending everyday as he knew that one time or another, he'd be lost enough to miss a few weeks of school. In return, Ryoga had promised to take different assignments to work on if he got lost.

Ranma stared at Ryoga below on the walkway. He'd been an interesting friend the past weekend. Several times, they'd seen a little, black pig running about; Ryoga seemed just as prone to water accidents like the Saotomes. Akane surprised the entire family by picking up Ryoga in his cursed form a few times and smiling, stating that "P – chan" better get himself into the bath before he flashed himself nude to the entire family. Ryoga was embarrassed enough to blush even as a pig and ran to the bathroom. And now, that same little pig was on his way to attend school... or at least attend it in a manner capable by one with such bad direction.

"Hey Ryoga, you hate school uniforms as much as me or just haven't gotten one yet?" Ranma asked, trying to break the tension. Ryoga looked up to Ranma on the fence.

"They let you not wear the uniform?" Ryoga asked, realizing that Ranma wore his usual Chinese style clothes.

"The school hasn't even asked." Ranma responded. "I'm a little surprised myself, really. But don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?" Ryoga smiled.

"Thanks again, guys." Ryoga declared. "I could have never imagined being friends with you Ranma but here we are!" Ryoga smiled his trademark fang toothed grin and Akane beamed back.

"I'm glad you were able to find friends, too! I can't imagine being without friendships through so long a time." Akane noted.

"Ryoga watch out!" Ranma suddenly called out.

"Huh?" Ryoga inquired. However, he didn't need an explanation as the water from a certain old woman splashing water around the walkway hit him straight in the face. Seconds later, Ryoga the pig sat indignantly on his pile of clothes. Squeaking his disapproval, Ryoga looked up to his friends.

"No offense Ryoga, but I'm really glad it's not just me that has water problems." Ranma commented. Ryoga the pig rolled his eyes and started digging at his pack.

"What's up, Ryoga?" Akane asked. She knelt down to help Ryoga open his pack and doing so, Akane found a hot water kettle in his pack. "Wow, that's pretty smart!" She turned to Ranma. "How come you never thought to bring your own instead of grabbing one from school or Dr. Tofu?"

"Hey! I'm plenty clever myself, you know!" Ranma growled. Folding his arms, he looked away in a huff. Akane merely smiled and helped Ryoga change back.

As the the trio approached the school gate, a lone figure stood blocking their way. "Not this again, doesn't Kuno ever give up?" Ranma lamented.

"That's the guy I kicked when I first found you. What the heck is his problem with you, Ranma?" Ryoga asked.

"Oh, just that he doesn't accept Akane and my engagement." Ranma answered and rolled his eyes. "He's insane enough that despite getting kicked in the face every day, he continues after 'his love'. Hold my pack, Akane."

"Don't bother. I'll take care of him this time, Ranma." Ryoga declared. "Kuno! Get out of the way or you'll learn the hard way what a third shoe tastes like."

"You!" Tatewaki Kuno bellowed. "You're the fool who dared kick the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School!" Kuno began running full force at Ryoga. "You shall taste the vengeance of heaven!" Seconds later, the kendoist lay flat on his back, unconscious.

"There you go, my thanks for your friendship!" Ryoga gestured to the sleeping idiot.

"Hey Kuno, was that slow and sure enough for you?" Ranma asked the unconscious form. Akane giggled and the trio trekked inside to get to their class.

Nabiki, who'd been watching from her usual window rolled her eyes. "And Kuno falls **again**!" Looking down on Kuno's form, Nabiki couldn't help but feel sorry for the lug. "Just give it up, Kuno baby... they're too far into their relationship at this point."

Much later that day, Ryoga sat gulping as he realized what was occurring. He hadn't participated in classes for so long, let alone a physical education class. Yet here he sat, in P.E. clothing awaiting his turn to attempt the riser jump. Ranma came over and sat down, along with two other guys.

"Hey there, I'm Hiroshi!" one of the two greeted Ryoga. "Ranma here tells us you're a martial artist too. Granted, we could kind of tell from your guys' fight the other day."

"I'm Daisuke. Yeah, that was something else." the other stranger commented.

"Oh, thanks." Ryoga responded, unsure of himself.

"Ryoga," Ranma declared, clapping Ryoga's back as he sat down, "don't worry! I told you we're friends now so why do you look so lonely?"

"I guess it's a bad habit." Ryoga lied.

"Uh – uh, that ain't it." Ranma chided and Ryoga gulped. "It's this whole going to school thing, isn't it?" Ryoga could only nod his head.

"Don't worry, man!" Daisuke offered. "If anything, right now you should be psyched about showing all of us up with your physical skills!"

"Yeah, Ranma sure got us going when he started up here." Hiroshi added. "Seven risers high, man! I still can't believe you did that!"

"Oh stop!" Ranma commented. Ryoga stared at Ranma; this was not the same egotistical Ranma he'd known in junior high or from just a few days ago. Smiling, he silently thanked kami – sama for such good friends.

"I guess you're right!" Ryoga answered his newly acquired school friends. They all shared a smile and watched as the girls attempted their own riser jumps. Akane was up next and the four boys watched as she effortlessly made the jump. "I also guess our training paid off, eh Ranma?"

"Yep." Ranma gulped. There was to be more "training" after school and Ranma, despite having a ploy to help avoid looking like a jerk, still felt uneasy about training Akane.

* * *

Kasumi heard the twin calls of "tadaima" at the front door and called out an "okaerinasai" of her own. Soon, she was joined by both Ranma and Akane in the kitchen. "Hello you two! How was school?"

"Great! Ryoga really fit in well." Akane beamed.

"Where is our new house guest? I thought he'd be with you two, considering his problem with directions." Kasumi asked. Akane looked to Ranma and both of them gulped.

"Damn it!" Ranma cursed. "I know the poor slob doesn't do well with getting to places but I figured he'd found someone to guide him back to the training hall."

"You told me he was going to be waiting for us outside but when he wasn't there, I thought the same thing." Akane explained. "Who would have thought he'd be lost the first day he went back to school?"

"Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait." Ranma noted.

"I guess so." Akane agreed. "Well, I'll see you in the dojo Ranma! Today you'll have to train both speed and technique!" Akane skipped off upstairs and Kasumi watched as the normally cheery Ranma slumped against the wall and sighed in defeat.

"Ranma, are you okay?" Kasumi asked.

"Never better!" Ranma quickly answered and stood up to walk out of the kitchen just as quickly.

"Strange boy." Kasumi commented and continued working on dinner.

Meanwhile, Ranma lamented his situation as he slowly walked to the dojo. He'd been able to get away with only teaching Akane speed but now he had no choice in trying to teach Akane everything. "How am I going to do this? I'm right back at square one!" Ranma agonized. Reaching the dojo and entering, he clenched a fist. "You did this on purpose, didn't you Ryoga?" Ranma asked of the teenager though he knew no one would answer. "Damn it!"

Akane tightened the belt around her gi as she entered the dojo and found Ranma sitting in a corner, deep in thought. She decided to try and sneak up on him like Dr. Tofu had done weeks before. Akane found her efforts rewarded as her fiance never noticed her and she tapped him on the shoulder. Ranma jumped and found Akane standing behind him.

"What the heck did you do that for?" Ranma demanded.

"Oh calm down, I was just testing my ability to sneak around. You said Dr. Tofu had done it and he's really skilled in martial arts so I figured I try my hand at it." Akane smiled and Ranma calmed down slightly.

"Oh, I see." he responded. "Well, you were lucky I was occupied with my own thoughts at the moment. Otherwise I may have heard you."

"What thoughts?" Akane asked, curious what he meant. Ranma merely gulped and avoided the question.

"Let's just get to... training, right?" Ranma offered.

"Sure." Akane answered and though she wanted to know why Ranma kept avoiding certain questions as of late, the rewards of this training enticed her to ignore that fact for the time being.

"Let's continue the speed training first." Ranma declared and took up his ready stance. The couple zipped around the room as Akane kept barely missing when Ranma moved out of the way mere moments before her fist met the air now occupying Ranma's former position. Akane really enjoyed the fact that Ranma would want someone just as fast as him and didn't mind that she wasn't connecting any of her punches or kicks.

'I'll get fast enough if I keep going at this pace!' Akane assured herself. This went on a few more minutes before Ranma reluctantly held up a hand to stop the exercise.

"Alright, that should be good for today." he declared.

"Okay, let me catch my breath before we go on to the regular sparring." Akane stated and sat down to rest. Ranma gulped again and seemed to lose some of his composure. "Ranma, I have to ask... and this time don't just avoid answering, okay?" Akane watched as Ranma nodded with fear. "Look, you keep on acting like you don't want to train me. But I figured that can't be it otherwise you wouldn't try to teach me speed. But now that you're having to train skill as well, you're reluctant again. What is going on?" Ranma looked to Akane and considering his relationship with the girl, he knew he could no longer lie or keep this from her. Not sure nor excited about what her reaction might be, Ranma slowly faced Akane.

"Akane, I..." Ranma began and paused seeing her face. She was patiently awaiting his answer and didn't like that he was about to place anger back in her demeanor. "...I... I just can't."

"Can't what?" Akane asked, unsure of what he meant.

"I can't train you." Ranma answered. There, he'd said it... now just to wait for the fireworks.

"Huh? What do you mean you can't train me? What have you been doing this past weekend then?" Akane was completely at a loss for Ranma's explanation.

"I'm a martial artist." Ranma began. "I'm really good, not the best, but I'm good. It's not right to fight with those weaker than yourself. But you wanted me to train you, so I came up with something that would avoid me having to use any skill. I can't train you because I'm better than you and I didn't like the idea of sparring with you when I first got here. That's why I never attacked you." Ranma hung his head and didn't meet Akane's gaze.

Akane stood there in shock. Ranma had come so far from the ego filled boy she'd met when his father and him had first arrived. Akane thought he'd finally let go of that but she'd been wrong. Memories of him having to prove he was a guy came flashing back to Akane and the anger began to grow. When Ranma finally lifted his head to look at her, Akane's battle aura flickered and he gulped. Akane met the guilt in Ranma's face with the anger she'd been accruing and gritted her teeth. "I thought you were past this, Ranma!" she finally yelled.

"Huh? Past what?" Ranma asked, completely confused.

"The whole 'I'm a guy' thing! Just because we're different sexes doesn't mean I'm somehow inferior!" Akane yelled again.

"Wait, it's not that!" Ranma stammered.

"Oh, then what is it? Just leave me alone!" Akane stomped out of the dojo and as she climbed the stairs, both Genma and Soun looked towards the direction of Akane's emotions.

"Uh – oh, trouble in the relationship?" Soun asked of his friend.

"Maybe, Tendo." Genma answered. "Better let them deal with it though, we'd just make it worse trying to help them get back together."

"I guess you're right." Soun agreed.

* * *

Ranma came to his favorite spot to sit and think; the creek on the way to school had a bridge one coult sit underneath and think without anyone to bother you since it wasn't exactly easy to see underneath. Ranma always tried to find spots like this since his trip to Jusenkyou. Ever since his incident there, insanity followed like a pesky younger sibling. And Ranma always found he needed to think without even his father to bother him, so he always searched new hometowns for spots like this.

Sitting down on the ground, Ranma placed his head in a hand and sighed. "It really isn't that, Akane. I just can't understand how I can lower my skill to match yours. That's just impossible." Ranma saw a rock and picked it up. He threw it into the river and sighed again. What could he do? Akane was probably done with Ranma and knew that he couldn't just walk into her room like after their last argument. He just wanted everything to be simple. "Simple... there's a laugh." Ranma scoffed. "I'm not a good example of simplicity at all. My father's a panda and I'm half female." Ranma stood up and walked over to the creek. It wasn't exactly his favorite thing to do but right now, Ranma didn't feel like being a guy. He jumped into the water and felt the transformation take place. Breaking the surface, Ranma swam back to the bank and lifted herself out of the water. "I hate this. Even as a girl, I don't feel right about fighting Akane. Isn't there anything I can use this stupid curse for?" She slumped over and lay sprawled on her back, watching as clouds drifted along the sky.

Ranma had been lying there for so long she didn't know what time of day it was when she heard squealing noises. Alarmed at the familiar sounds, Ranma lifted her head to see a little, black pig struggling to stay afloat in the creek. "Ry... Ryoga?!" Ranma exclaimed, equal parts angry and surprised. She jumped into the creek and fetched the struggling pig, then swam back to shore. "And just where have you been?" Ranma asked the drenched animal beside her. Ryoga the pig merely squeaked in terror and ran to take cover under the bridge. "Hey, get back here you..."

"Madam, have you seen a pig around here?" a voice called out. Ranma turned to find a trio of butlers looking towards her. "Madam, I asked, have you seen a pig around? The poor animal has escaped and we are trying to return him home." Ranma realized her anger would have to wait and addressed the butlers.

"Nope, no pig around here!" she answered. "Just a silly teenager and her love of swimming!" Ranma tried her best to be sweet and girly, ruing the fact that her curse was useful just not how she'd really want.

"Well, thank you anyway, Madam. Come on boys, let's go!" the butlers took off again and disappeared. Ranma looked back towards the quivering pig in hiding.

"So what was that about?" Ranma asked. She walked over and took a hold of Ryoga's bandana. "Let's go get you some hot water and your clothes."

Minutes later, the two boys sat underneath the bridge and Ranma, seething, addressed Ryoga. "So I'll ask you again, where the hell were you today?"

"Some old couple tried to adopt me as their pet. They must have been lonely or something." Ryoga answered, shivering slightly. "Called me 'Porkchop'... I'm just glad they didn't try to bathe me or something. Thanks for chasing off those idiots earlier."

"You're welcome but I'm still not exactly happy with you." Ranma quipped angrily.

"What did I do?" Ryoga asked.

"Because of you, Akane is pissed with me again. You just couldn't wait for us after school." Ranma spat.

"First off, I went with Hiroshi and Daisuke to enjoy an afternoon snack but got lost trying to find the shop they talked about, even with their directions. You of all people should understand that!" Ryoga exclaimed. "Secondly, how did my getting lost have anything to do with your interactions with Akane?"

"You were supposed to train her today in combat, not me!" Ranma argued.

"Oh this again?" Ryoga queried. "Look Ranma, it's so much easier to train somebody of lesser skill than you think."

"Yeah, how's that?" Ranma snapped. "It's not fair to fight someone weaker than yourself." Ryoga shook his head.

"Excuse me, and why did you fight me then?" Ryoga countered. Ranma, caught off guard, stared incredulously at Ryoga. "You heard me! We may be pretty damned equal in skill but I can admit that at first, I wasn't sure I could take you on. After our first encounter, I was sure you were better than me yet I continued on. And you obviously continued to take me on as well because here we are to talk about the past as such. You can't have figured we were so equal after having kicked off all my bandanas **twice**!" Ryoga turned his head and closed his eyes. How in the world did Ranma ever become Akane's fiance?

"I, uh..." Ranma stammered.

"Just stop trying figure out some excuse, Ranma!" Ryoga stood up and faced his friend. "You said we were rivals and we needed to help each other get better. This is me saying that I'm here to help you get better... even in issues other than martial arts!" Ranma stared up at Ryoga and realized the guy was serious. He'd never have admitted it before, but Ranma suddenly felt okay about accepting someone else's help. Ryoga was a better friend than Ranma had realized Ryoga to be and he stood up to face the other teenager.

"Ok, but how do I change this? I mean, I still don't get how you can just lower your skill level." Ranma asked and seeing he'd been successful in getting Ranma to try, Ryoga smiled.

"That I'm not sure about, but I'm willing to help. Let's try a match right here, shall we?" Ryoga offered.

"I guess." Ranma answered and took up a ready position.

They began sparring and Ranma was grateful to at least be starting with someone at his own skill level. Ryoga said he was better but as they fought, Ranma was convinced that Ryoga was merely a humble person. 'He's completely different from me. I've seen him proud of his skill but he doesn't seem to feel the need to boast.' Ranma thought to himself. He saw an opening and executed a leg sweep, taking Ryoga off of his feet. The teenager splashed into the water again and soon, "P – chan" came out of the water. Ryoga the pig growled at Ranma for the good move and continued his assault. "Hey come on, Ryoga... we can't continue now. You're just a pig!" Ryoga continued attacking Ranma and gritting his teeth, Ranma used a simple slap to block the pig from getting in a hit. "Come on, Ryoga! I said stop! All I have to do is use simple attacks to block when your this weak!"

Ranma gasped and realized what he'd just said. All he needed to do was use much more simple attacks because Ryoga was not as strong in his pig form. And that's all he needed to do in order to properly spar with Akane! Having been occupied by these thoughts, Ryoga the pig landed a scratching kick as he leapt past Ranma's face.

"Ow!" Ranma proclaimed and looked towards Ryoga. "Ok man, I've got it figured out now! You can stop fighting!" Ryoga the pig relaxed his stance slightly and looked inquisitively at Ranma with a squeak for a question. "Let's go home, man. I can just show you what I mean when we get back there.

* * *

Akane yelled a "kyah" as her fist plowed through her cinder blocks. It had been a while since she'd needed to use this as therapy for her anger and that fact only worsened her mood. 'Stupid Ranma.' she thought bitterly. 'All he has to do is train me, I never asked him to fight me at full strength.' She placed a hand against the wall and sighed. "I have got to snap myself out of this." Akane declared aloud.

A shadow moved across the wall to her left and Akane stared at the sudden movement. Turning around, Akane put a hand to block out the sun so she could see who was there. On top of the walkway roof leading to the dojo stood Ranma and a familiar black pig. "Ranma?" Akane asked, unsure what was going on.

"I figure it out." Ranma announced.

"Figured what out, you jerk?" Akane spat bitterly. She was curious but her anger still remained.

"I deserve that." Ranma stated, accepting the insult. "But you deserve this!" Ranma leapt off the roof and landed in front of Akane. She barely had time to dodge the punch Ranma threw and suddenly her anger was replaced with confusion. Ranma threw a slicing kick this time and Akane flipped back to dodge. She looked to Ranma who smirked, seemingly happy at his actions.

"What are you doing? I thought you said you couldn't fight weaker opponents?" Akane asked.

"You're not going to be weaker once we're done training you." Ranma announced "And didn't I say I hated seeing you angry?" Akane went wide eyed and gasped.

"You mean..." Akane stammered, "you mean you figured out how to use less of your skill?"

"Thanks to a little, black pig, yes... I did." Ranma threw another punch and this time, Akane caught his fist.

"How's that?" Akane asked and using Ranma's momentum, she knocked him over. Getting up and dusting himself off, Ranma smiled at his fiance's move.

"Good one." he commented and Akane smiled. Her anger was completely gone knowing that Ranma wasn't such a jerk after all. "I figured it out while fighting Ryoga earlier. I was so mad that I blamed him for our argument. Then when we were fighting, I realized that when he was a pig I unconsciously didn't use nearly as much strength in my hits. I didn't need as much strength because he wasn't as strong as a pig." Akane dodged a leg sweep and Ranma stood up smiling. "And I shouldn't try to use that strength with you because you'll never get a chance to learn." Akane started crying.

"THANK YOU!" Akane blubbered, hugging Ranma tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! That's all I really wanted in the first place... just skillful enough to be a challenge!" Ranma smiled and hugged her back.

"Thank you, Akane. I would never be this way without you." Ranma stated.

Ryoga the pig watched and smiled with a squeak of approval. Though he was still a hint jealous of their relationship, Ryoga was glad he'd inadvertently been able to help them make up. Looking into the gorgeous pink sky, he began to think of his own desires. 'There's a girl out there for me, I know it.' Ryoga thought wistfully.

* * *

End Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER NOTICE**

The preceding story contains characters and elements from the anime/manga Ranma 1/2. The these characters and elements belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Kitty Films. None of these were used to plagiarize from the broadcasters Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and/or Kitty Films. Rather, this story was intended for entertainment purposes only, not commercial or for profit. In the same way, this story's depiction of the plot elements or characters from Ranma 1/2 are an expression of the author and are not meant in any fashion to be a depiction of the canon that is Ranma 1/2. All original characters depicted in this story not a part of the original Ranma 1/2 canon are Copyright 2013 by the author.


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